The right to bear arms

Gc M.L

929.6
P83r
1239399 ;

©ENEALOGY COLLECTfON

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 1833 00837 0105

THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS

THE ^

RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS

' Surely even those who affect the greatest contempt for
Heraldry will admit that if Arms are to be borne at all, it
should be according to the laws of Arms.' — Planch6.

Second Edition, Revised and Enlargred

LONDON

ELLIOT STOCK, 62 Paternoster Row

19CX)

1«3939,9

CONTENTS

CUA1\

Preface ....

PAGE

9

I.

The Origin and Meaning of Arms and
Gentility. — The Rights and Prerogatives
OF the Sovereign . . . ,

23

i

■>

II.

The Earl Marshal. . . • .

62

III.

The College and Officers of Arms .

88

i

IV.

The Granting of Arms

III

i.

V.

The Visitations

118

?

VI.

Proof of the Existence of the Authority
of the Crown and College of Arms at
THE Present Date

142

V.

VII

Armorial Law in Scotland

155

1

VIII.

Armorial Law in Ireland

172

IX.

The Right to Bear Arms

199

X

Foreign Arms

. 203

XI

Popular Fallacies .
Index ....

. 208
• 233

PREFACE

Nowadays it is the fashion to proclaim oneself to
be democratic. That is unfortunate, and, more-
over, it is a piece of hypocrisy. For in very truth
there are but few of those of gentle birth who
are really either democratic or socialistic in their
ideas, or rather in that innermost private set of
ideas which they keep for their own especial
comfort. Those who are not of gentle birth
need not trouble themselves to use arms and
crests.

Years ago a writer penned these lines : ' There
is no subject more difficult to be dwelt on than
that of honourable descent ; none on which the
world are greater sceptics, none more offensive to
them ; and yet there is no quality to which every
one in his heart pays so great a respect.'

As time goes on this dogmatic statement re-
mains absolutely correct ; it might almost be said
that the two concluding phrases really gain in
weight and accuracy, day by day, the more that

lO Preface

the world outwardly condemns and ignores such
a standpoint.

I have been called to account for asserting the
existence of ' caste ' in England. It does exist,
and it seems idle not to recognise the fact. And
yet the critics of the Press ignore it, or ridicule
the suggestion. Many of our journalists are un-
fortunately unacquainted with the class which
exists by privilege, which claims, asserts, pos-
sesses, and exercises privilege and its prerogatives.
Outsiders are quick enough to grasp the fact,
and a well-known American writer, Mr Julian
Ralph, in an article on 'English Characteristics'
in Harper's Magazine, tersely but truly sums the
whole matter up thus : —

* In England you can trace caste from the
sorrowing Lady on the throne to the top-hat
and long coat of the simplest gentleman in the
West-End, or the same hat and short coat of
the humblest clerk in the City. From top to
bottom, the English love it all. Let no one
humbug I my reader with the assertion (born
of our republican wishes) that the lines of caste
grow looser, or that monarchy is under a death-
sentence in England. The youngest, most
sheltered oak in that land is not as firmly
rooted nor as sure of a long existence.'

Now armory is, and always has been, the pre-
rogative of the privileged class. Armorial bearings
are not necessary to any man. They are but the

Preface 1 1

outward and visible sign of the technical rank of
'gentility,' the lowest hereditary rank. And so
long as the possession of arms is a matter of
privilege (even though this privilege is no greater
than is obtained by a payment to the Crown of
the fees upon a patent of arms), so long will a
certain (though it may be small) prestige attach
to the possession of arms. The world always
values anything to which prestige attaches, and
the possession of which is in any way a matter
of privilege.

The following is merely one instance of the
manner in which the unauthorised use of arms is
slowly but surely taking effect in lessening the
prestige of armory. At the beginning of this
century every peer and every gentleman used
his seal of arms in sealing a letter. This practice
was followed almost without exception. Those
who had no arms used wafers. A certain well-
known character, at that period, sorted his letters
in the following manner : — Those which bore seals
of arms he opened himself, because they were
likely to be from people of his own class ; those
which were wafered he sent unopened to his agent,
the probabilities being that they related to no more
than business matters. When adhesive envelopes
were introduced the use of armorial bearings on
correspondence continued, and the upper classes
had their stationery embossed with arms o r crests

1 2 Preface

And I think I am right in saying that this practice
continued to be pretty generally recognised until
about thirty years ago. Then came the era of
that abominable advertisement, * What is your
crest, and What is your motto ? Send name and
county and three-and-sixpence, no charge if an
order for stationery be given,' The natural result
was that everybody could afford three-and-six-
pence, and this advertisement was taken advantage
of to an extent which it is almost impossible to
realise. The privileged classes found their
privilege of armory was being infringed by
people who, it was notorious, could have no
pretence to such privilege, and consequently the
highest classes ceased to value it, or, at any rate,
ceased to value that particular opportunity of
displaying their right to the privilege. The
result is that now one scarcely ever sees a crest
or coat-of-arms upon the notepaper of those who,
in slang phraseology, are members of * the
smartest sets.' Peers still continue pretty
generally to use their coronets, simply because
the possession of a coronet is still recognised as
a matter of privilege, and the very few of ancient
ancestry who still possess * badges ' use these
because it is now impossible to get a badge.

In olden time a knowledge of heraldry and
genealogy was a part of the ordinary education
of every gentleman. Armory and sport were the

Preface 1 3

prerogatives of aristocracy, and it is curious in this
respect to notice that these two accompaniments
of birth were so intimately interwoven that
' Porny,' ostensibly a dictionary of heraldic terms,
contains many sporting words for which by no
stretch of imagination or research can a place be
found within the limits of armory.

But nowadays things are otherwise. Not only
does heraldry form no admitted part of one's
education, but, on the one hand, some boast with
gusto of a profound ignorance upon the subject ;
some others think it necessary to apologise for
any slight knowledge of it which they may possess.
It is difficult to understand such a state of affairs.
For armory is a subject which concerns every
gentleman, and a subject with w^hich, sooner or
later, somehow or other, every gentleman has to
deal, even if his flirtation with the science be no
greater than the engraving or the wearing of the
signet ring upon his finger.

At the end of the seventeenth century the
powers of the Heralds to ruthlessly deface or
destroy false armory to a great extent ceased to
be exercised. The reasons of this cessation were
political. If at that time, and coeval with the
waning influence and importance of heraldry, the
use of arms had then equivalently declined, no
harm would have been done. The result would
have been that armory, like chivalry, would by

14 Preface

now have been dead and would have passed away
into the limbo of antiquity. One is tempted
sometimes to wish that this had been the case.
But it has not, and heraldry is now and still a
living, breathing, actual reality, and never before
within these realms has the use of armorial
bearings been so widespread and so extensive.

The average individual who ranks himself as, and
is accounted by his neighbours to be, a gentleman
by birth (I am not here employing the word in its
Exeter Hall translation, but rather with the defi-
nition which the term now colloquially carries),
invariably has a crest or coat of arms upon his
silver, his spoons and forks, perhaps on his china,
on his bookplate, on his seal, on his carriages, his
livery buttons, and his harness. In all prob-
ability he armorially decorates the monument
he erects to his father's memory. And yet whilst
the whole or a part of his armorial bearings must
catch his eye several times a day, he is content to
trust the decision or control concerning them to
the knowledge which he supposes to exist on the
part of his tailor, his stationer, his jeweller, or his
coach-painter. As a matter of fact, the ignorance
of these sort of tradesmen on the point is colossal
and profound. The average jeweller or coach-
painter has no more knowledge of heraldry than
one's greengrocer. It is leaning on a broken reed,
indeed, to trust your heraldry to such a person.

P7'eface i ^

Whilst it is hopeless to expect that a detailed
acquaintance with the intricate laws of armory will
ever again become universal, there are certain
fundamental facts that require no great effort of
memory to assimilate, and which it is desirable
should be known by every gentleman.

The use of arms is the assertion of one's gentility
in the same manner that the use of a coronet of
rank is the advertisement by the user of the fact
that he is a Peer. Tell the average man this,
and he will pooh-pooh it. But it remains a fact.
Why does an upstart put a crest on his livery
buttons and on his carriage ? Because he wishes
to do as his betters do. Why do his betters do
it ? Because their fathers did it before them, and
they are glad enough to show the world that
they had forefathers to copy,— forefathers who
were gentlemen. Hundreds of men sneer at the
whole thing, and say they don't care a button about
arms. They generally use them all the same, and
woe betide any one who questions their right to
what they may display. I have nine threats of
libel actions in my drawers at the moment for
indicating that different people are using arms
without a right thereto. And not one of the nine
can show the vestige of a right. I am not quite
sure whether the proportion of bogus arms in
use is greatest amongst High Sheriffs, O.C.'s,
Jubilee Knights, Fellows of the Society of Anti-

1 6 Preface

quaries, or City Aldermen. The proportion is
about 50 per cent, bad, all round. Why do people
object to have their arms described as bogus?
Because every one knows that the chief glory and
the great beauty of arms and crests are that they
are both hereditary,— because in the frantic struggle
to get into Society nine men out of ten will tell lie
upon lie to prove that their fathers were not
labourers or ' dans cette galere,' and will therefore
use bogus arms in the vain endeavour to show
that they and ' their people ' are not of the vulgar
crowd. That is snobbery, rank, utter, and absolute.
It takes a gentleman of birth and of ancestry to
admit 'in Society' that his father swept a
crossing for a living, or that his mother took
in lodgers or washing. So we get back to the
fact that the use of armorial bearings or of a
coronet is merely the assertion or advertisement
of gentility or Peerage rank. Every Peer uses his
coronet, every pseudo-gentleman sports arms in
some way or other. If it be snobbish to tell the
world that you are a Peer or a gentleman, well,
then, snobbery must be somewhat of an aristo-
cratic failing. No one accuses a Peer of snobbery
for using his coronet to show that he is ' My Lord.'
Why, then, is a man a snob for using a coat of
arms to show he is a gentleman ? The proudest
title in the world is that of an English gentleman.
Where is the snobbery in claiming it if a right to

Preface 1 7

it exists ? There are degrees of gentility of course,
and ancient gentility is much more estimable than
modern. But they are both gentility, the one
taking precedence before the other. But better
modern gentility, better even raw new gentility,
if it be genuine, than a bogus claim to ancient
ancestry. Manners have nothing to do with one's
gentility. ' Manners maketh man! George IV.
was the first gentleman in Europe, and no one
ever accused him of good manners. Manners
are assumed, just as the motto (' Pour y parvenir ')
of the Manners family has been wittily translated
to mean ' In order to obtain,' or ' For what
you can get.' Gentility is merely hereditary rank,
emanating, with all other rank, from the Crown,
the sole fountain of honour. It is idle to make the
word carry a host of meanings it was never in-
tended to. Arms are the sign of the technical
rank of gentility ; the use of arms is the advertise-
ment of one's claim to that gentility. Arms mean
nothing more. By coronet supporters and helmet
can be indicated one's place in the scale of pre-
cedence ; by adding arms for your wife you assert
that she also is of gentle rank ; your quarterings
show the other gentle families you represent ;
difference marks will show your position in your own
family (not a very important matter) ; augmenta-
tions indicate the deeds of your ancestors which
the Sovereign thought worthy of being held in

B

1 8 Preface

especial remembrance. By the use of a certain
coat of arms, you assert your descent from the
person to whom those arms were granted, con-
firmed, or allowed. That is the beginning and end
of armory. Why seek to make it mean more?
Why garb it in falsehood till it becomes ridiculous ?
Some will tell you an argent field means ' purity.'
The purity extends no further than the whiteness
of the shield. Purity and chastity are not
hereditary— armorial bearings are. Nor does a
crimson shield mean descent from Emperors.
One can inherit a field of gules without any
corollary of birth in the imperial purple. A bend
does not indicate warrior ancestors, nor did this
charge originate in the scarf of a military officer.
It first occurred because an extra strip of wood
across a shield was found to be a convenient way
of adding stability to such an article. And after-
wards somebody painted the strip of a different
colour. And a painted strip across a shield no
doubt was made use of long before military officers
put a sash over their shoulders, or, indeed, many
other clothes about their bodies. There is scarcely
a heraldic charge that has not at some time
or another had some fable or so-called ex-
planation attached to it. The pity is that many
of these puerilities are still believed. Small
wonder, then, that armory is viewed with con-
tempt by so many. But if armory be to you no

Preface 19

more than a mere subject of contempt, leave it
alone ; don't abuse it by improper use.

But if the display of armorial bearings is the
assertion of gentility, is it not contemptibly
snobbish to use arms when no gentility exists,— to
steal the signs of another's gentility, and thereby
assert to the world that you are of gentle birth
when you are not; to proclaim yourself to be
related to some noble family of your name, when
even the name of your grandfather is perhaps
unknown to you ? Yet this is done every day.

Here is the origin of many of the arms and
crests in use. A man who, as far as he himself
knows, is of no ancestry, begins to rise in the
Social Scale. He must do the same as his
betters, so he starts a crest or coat of arms. He
simply gets it put on his property by some
tradesman with whom he is dealing. Either his
tradesman selects it, or he chooses it himself over
the counter out of a book of illustrations, all of
which, by the way, already belong to other people.
From one article it is transferred to another, till all
his belongings are decorated with it. His son, one
generation further away from 'the people,' asks
about it. The father probably shuffles— he is
ashamed to own it only originated in a trades-
man's shop— and vaguely tells his son 'it came
to him from his father,' or 'he didn't know
much about it, but his people had used it,' or

20 Preface

some other such gorgeous fairy tale, garnished
to suit the taste. So the son accepts, as one
of his articles of faith, the divine belief in his
own descent from gentle ancestors, for faith
is the substance of things hoped for, and the
evidence of things unseen. And he swears by
all his little tin gods, and by the sacred ashes
of his sainted forefathers, that the arms he
uses are his by right, and one has to call his
attention to the fact publicly in black and white
before he can be even induced to make the least
inquiry about the arms in question. That he
doesn't know who his forefathers were or where
may be their ashes are merely details. His son
in his turn, it may be, does take a fleeting interest
in the matter. There is usually an amateur
herald in a family about every third generation.
But he always starts his inquiries from the wrong
end. He takes his own right to the arms for
granted. When he finds that the arms were
registered 250 years ago to some family, this family
are at once claimed as ancestors. ' The arms are
the same, you know ; we must be descended from
them.' Prove to him that he is not, or that it is
unlikely, what then does he do ? Spin you a sweet
little story about missing registers, which perhaps
you may believe, and perhaps not. I have been
told of so many ' crucial ' parish registers that are
missing that the wonder is there is a solitary one

Preface 2 1

left in the kingdom. Or he will swear his people
were omitted at the Visitations through the
stupidity of the Heralds, Probably they were
respectable yeomen who knew better than to
presume to bear arms — or he will tell you a story
of a mesalliance, a Gretna Green marriage, and a
disinheritance ; there have been more of such heirs
disinherited than have ever existed to quarrel with
their fathers. Or perhaps his ancestors dropped the
use of arms through religious scruples (whilst even
Quakers have accepted baronetcies, and been made
Lords - Lieutenants) ; or else he will abuse the
Heralds and Kings of Arms for granting his arms
— HIS, if you please — to some other family 250
years ago, which family were in no way related
to his people. Wherefore he thinks the Heralds
ought to be called to book. And all the time
the whole thing is merely a colossal delusion, for
it is quite possible he can't tell you even the
name of his own great-grandfather.

And there are dozens who will read and admit
everything I have said. ' Oh yes — quite true, I've
no doubt it exactly applies to my neighbour Smith,'
and it will never dawn on them that they them-
selves are in the same boat. A man's belief in his
own right to bear arms, and in his own gentility, is
absolute and profound. His father told him so.
Therefore he must be a gentleman. He needs
no more proof of his own gentility, or of his

2 2 Pf^eface

own right to bear arms, and though one might
move mountains, the pity of it is that many
will remain unconvinced of their errors to the
day of their death. So I suppose I must go
on preaching the gospel of true armory for yet
a while longer.

THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS*

CHAPTER I

THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF ARMS AND
GENTILITY — THE RIGHTS AND PREROGA-
TIVES OF THE SOVEREIGN.

If one may be permitted to use an expression
suitable to this utilitarian and commercial age,
armorial bearings are the hall-mark of one's
gentility. Nowadays it is somewhat difificult to
get this subject treated seriously. It is a very
prevalent fashion to sneer at the display of arms
as snobbish and as antiquated, and, of course,
following the example of the fox in the ancient
parable, those who have no arms affect and pro-

* In view of the correspondence in the Saturday Review and else-
where challenging my premises, the following pages (which, in a
very abbreviated form, have been partly published in the Genea-
logical Magazine) have been written. I have no doubt that had
they been written by an Officer of Arms, with access to the records
at the College, the case could have been proved even yet more
conclusively. My proofs are merely those to which, as an ordinary
member of the outside public, I could obtain access at the Record
Office, etc.

24 The Right to Bear Arms

claim an utter contempt for heraldry. People
of this class would have us believe such an
opinion to be universal. But in this country the
use of arms (apart from any question of right
to bear them) is purely voluntary. The Revenue
authorities require that those who use arms shall
pay an annual tax of one or two guineas, accord-
ing to the manner of using. From this voluntary
taxation the Revenue received during the year
1899 the sum of ;^75,347. In addition, some
thousands use arms or crests while successfully
evading the tax. So that it is fairly evident that
the estimation still placed upon arms by the
general public is considerable.

Arms are not a necessity ; consequently, as no
one is compelled to use them, I have yet to learn of
one single solitary position in life which neces-
sitates the use of a personal coat of arms. A man
can be born, can live, and can die perfectly happy
and contented without a coat of arms, good or
bad. There are millions who have done it.
There are millions who will do it in the future.

One of the most popular fallacies with regard to
arms is the supposition that the tax which is paid
annually by those who use armorial bearings
confers a valid right to arms. It does nothing
whatever of the kind. It is simply and solely a
method of taxation, and of itself neither gives nor
grants any tangible right to arms. I am quite

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 25

aware that the wording of the form of receipt for
the annual payments under this form of taxation
can, by reason of the imperfect English in which it
is expressed, be, perhaps, twisted into such read-
ing ; but the status of the whole affair can be
readily explained by reference to the somewhat
analogous taxation of men-servants, guns, dogs,
and game. By paying the taxes upon these
matters you do no more than satisfy the taxation
requirements of the Inland Revenue. You pay for
your licence to use a gun, but that does not give
you a gun, and all the dog licences in the world
will not create a pup to your use. The right to the
possession of either the dog or the gun must be
obtained, usually by payment and from some other
quarter. In the same way the payment for an
annual licence upon a carriage does not make you
the happy possessor of even the most humble
conveyance, and even after the payment for a
licence to employ a man-servant, you still have to
make your terms with the individual and pay his
wages. Up to the present the Inland Revenue
authorities at Somerset House have not yet
started an establishment for the supply of either
carriages, dogs, guns, or game, but they neverthe-
less exact the taxation which has been prescribed.
In precisely the same manner, whilst they exact
taxation for the use of armorial bearings, they do
not supply them, and the payment of the taxation

26 The Right to Bear Arms

does not create a right of possession to that in-
corporeal hereditament — a coat of arms.

Many would have us to think that a coat of
arms has no value and no meaning, and that there
is no ownership in arms. An equally prevalent
idea is that everybody has got a coat of arms, and
that it is only a question of 'finding it' A
more fallacious idea could hardly exist. Another
mistaken idea is that anybody can assume a crest
in the same haphazard manner in which one
designs a monogram.

Now this idea that crests are not hereditary and
may be assumed at pleasure is very deep-rooted.
Many will admit they have no right to arms, whilst
vehemently asserting and maintaining a claim to a
crest. Let me say at once and emphatically that
such an idea is utterly incorrect. There are many
coats of arms legally in existence to which no crests
have ever been assigned, but there is not a solitary
crest lawfully existing without its complementary
coat of arms. Unless there be an undoubted right
to arms, it is absolutely certain there can be no
right to a crest. A crest is essentially but a part
of a formal armorial achievement and cannot exist
alone.

An equally foolish and much more prevalent
idea is that every coat of arms commemorates
some glorious achievement of some unfortunately
forgotten ancestor. I daresay there are 50,000

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 27

coats of arms in existence. I question if even 500
are truly capable of such explanation. Arms, in
ancient days, were used for purposes of distinction ;
they were therefore a pun on a man's name or on
the name of his lands, and were generally due to
some such cause.

Let me, if possible, make it clear what arms
are, and whence comes authority to bear them.

Many people trace the origin of armorial bear-
ings to the Greeks, and one writer takes them
back to the Chaldeans, because a Chaldean ex-
ample exists of an eagle drawn in the form in
which an eagle displayed is at present heraldically
depicted. I am not concerned herein to discuss
that or any kindred point. There is no doubt, of
course, that shields have been decorated in some
form or another from remote ages. Equally is it
certain that tribes and individuals have used
badges both for personal and tribal purposes.
But in spite of all that has been written on one
side and on the other, we are still without any
definite evidence that such a thing as a coat of
arms, in the sense we now understand the term,
had any existence whatsoever at the time of the
First Crusade. In the whole of the Bayeux
tapestry there is no design which can be properly
classed or considered as a coat of arms. To my
mind, this definitely proves that there was no such
thing as a coat of arms in existence at that time.

28 The Ricrkt to Bear Arms

o

Soon after this undoubtedly arms were in use, both
on the Continent and in these countries ; in fact,
their assumption appears to have been fairly coeval
throughout the whole of Europe. There is little
doubt that the Crusades exercised a vast influence
both in forming the rules of armory and in stimu-
lating the birth of the science. Apart from certain
questions of technique, which vary according to
the requirements and ideas prevalent in the
different countries in former times, armory is
much the same from one end of Europe to the
other. There are many of its forms and rules,
many of its terms, and practically all of its charges,
identical in all countries, and this undoubtedly
points to and almost incontrovertibly proves a
common origin of heraldic law.

* At all times and in all countries the condition
of society has been one of inequality. The broadly-
marked difference between the nobleman or gentle-
man and the rest of the community is one of the
most prominent features of mediaeval life, and the
source from which the less abrupt gradations of

* The wording of the following paragrapli being very similar to
an extract from a well-known book, it may, perhaps, in the opinion
of some, be considered that I should acknowledge the extract by
quotation marks ; but a careful comparison will show that the
quotation is by no means exact, so the responsibility remains my
own. Where quotation marks are used, no alterations have been
made. I think it well to make this explanation, as otherwise the
odium attaching to ' X ' might be wrongly transferred to other
writers whose books I have similarly laid under contribution in a
slightly altered form.

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 29

rank in modern society have been gradually de-
veloped. According to feudal ideas, the whole
land was, in the first instance, the property of the
Sovereign, from whom it was held under the
obligation of rendering stated military service,
with or without the further obligation of attend-
ance at his court and council. The immediate
vassals of the Crown, who were in the first in-
stance called Barons (as emphatically the King's
i!ien\ enjoyed in some cases the office of Comes or
Dux, and had vassals, who held their lands from
them by a like military tenure, and with obliga-
tions of attendance at the courts of their superiors
similar to those by which the latter held their
lands from the Sovereign. By a constitution of
this kind, but with variations in detail, society
was held together in most parts of Europe.
The landholder was the nobleman or gentleman,
and the smallest tenant of land held by military
tenure participated in the privileges of nobility.
The gentry of England had many privileges re-
cognised by law. If a churl or peasant defamed
the honour of a gentleman, the latter had his
remedy in law ; but if one gentleman defamed
another, the combat was allowed. For similar
offences a gentleman was punishable with less
severity than a churl, unless the crime were heresy,
treason, or excessive contumacy. A churl might
not challenge a gentleman to combat, quia con-
ditiones inipares.

30 The Right to Bear Arms

Side by side with feudalism grew up the use of
distinctive devices, by which on banner or shield
the performers of military service were distin-
guished. Like ^QJus imaginum of classic times,
the right to bear insignia gentilitia became from
the very evolution of heraldry the distinctive
privilege of the nobly born. * Nobiles,' says Sir
Edward Coke, * sunt qui arma gentilitia anteces-
sorum suorum proferre possunt' To use the words
of Camden : ' Nobiles dividuntur in minores et
majores. Nobiles minores sunt equites aurati,
armigeri, et qui vulgo generosi et gentlemen
vocantur,' Or in the language of Sir James
Lawrence {Nobility of the British Gentry, p. 3,
4th edition, London, 1840): 'Any individual who
distinguishes himself may be said to ennoble
himself.' A prince judging an individual worthy
of notice gave him patent letters of nobility. In
these letters were blazoned the arms which were
to distinguish his shield. By this shield he was to
be known, or nobilis. ' A plebeian had no blazonry
on his shield, because he was ignobilis, or unworthy
of notice. . . . Hence arms are the criterion of
nobility. Every nobleman, in the true meaning of
the word, must have a shield of arms. Whoever
has a shield of arms is a nobleman. In every
country in Europe without exception a grant of
arms (or letters of nobility) has conferred gentility
on all the descendants' [in the male line].

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 31

Out of Great Britain, the term ' noble ' is still
habitually used in its original sense ; and the
prerogative of raising persons merely to ' noble '
rank is continually exercised by Continental Sove-
reigns. Nearly every foreign grant of arms is in
reality a grant of nobility, containing, inter alia, a
gift of certain arms. This was formerly the case
in England. The practice which has gradually
established itself in England of restricting the
words ' noble ' and ' nobility ' to members of the
Peerage, whilst in itself incorrect, has also caused
much confusion and misunderstanding to arise in
the use and abuse of the word ' gentleman,' which,
strictly speaking, is identical with, and only
another form of, the word ' nobleman.' While the
stricter meaning of the word is in a measure
retained to the present day in the expression
'gentleman by birth,' it has often come to be
difficult for one who is not a genealogical expert
to know who is or who is not a ' gentleman ' — i.e.,
a gentleman of coat-armour. The less abrupt
gradation of ranks, and a mistaken ' courtesy '
adopted by society in general, have caused the
word ' gentleman ' to be applied in an idiotic
manner to any one whose education, profession, or
perhaps whose income, raises him above the lower
level of ordinary trade or menial service, or even to
a man of polite and refined manners and ideas.
Such an idea is absolutely wrong. I have myself

32 The Right to Bear Anns

heard and seen a drunken chimney-sweep come
to blows in a public-house on being informed
he was not a gentleman. Nothing a man can
do or say can make him a gentleman without
formal letters patent of gentility — in other words,
without a grant of arms to himself or to his an-
cestors, either near or far removed. And once
the right to arms has been conferred, no action,
good or bad, can remove that gentility, except a
formal attainder from the Crown. Somebody once
remarked that it is 'a pity some gentlemen
are such blackguards.' — Quite so, but their black-
guardly conduct does not remove their gentility,
which is hereditary.

Now, I am quite aware that the word ' gentle-
man ' is at the present day wrongly used to carry a
wider meaning. There is no necessity to write me
long letters demonstrating the fact, and letters on
the subject in the Press are equally unnecessary. I
admit that the word colloquially is now used
differently, but I say such a usage is wrong, ab
initio, and all the wrongful use of the word that
takes place cannot alter its true meaning. The
following case in the Earl Marshal's court, which
hung upon the definition of the word, conclusively
proves my contention : —

'• 2\st Nov. 1637. — W. Baker, gent., humbly
sheweth that having some occasion of con-
ferrence with Adam Spencer of Broughton

Origin- and Meaning of Anns, &c. ^iZ

under the Bleane, co. Cant., on or about 28th
July last, the said Adam did in most base and
opprobrious tearmes abuse your petitioner,
calling him a base, lying fellow, etc., etc. The
defendant pleaded that Baker is noe Gentle-
man, and soe not capable of redresse in this
court. Le Neve, Clarenceux, is directed to
examine the point raised, and having done so,
declared as touching the gentry of Wilham
Baker, that Robert Cooke, Clarenceux King of
Arms, did make a declaration loth May 1573,
under his hand and scale of office, that George
Baker of London, gent., sonne of Christopher
Baker of Tenterden, sonne of J. Baker of the
same place, sonne of Simon Baker of Fever-
sham, CO. Cant., was a bearer of tokens of
honour, and did allow and confirm to the said
George Baker and to his posterity, and to the
posterity of Christopher Baker, these arms, etc.,
etc. And further, Le Neve has received proof
that the petitioner, William Baker, is the son of
William Baker of Kingsdowne, co. Cant., who
was the brother of George Baker, and son of
Christopher aforesaid.' The judgment is not
stated. (The original Confirmation of Arms
by Cooke, loth May 1573, may now be seen
in the British Museum. Genealogist for 1889,
p. 242).

In those times, to say that a man was ' no gentle-
man ' was understood to imply that he had no
right to bear arms — the badge and proof of the
social rank of a gentleman — and such a statement
was a real injury and insult. It is almost im-

C

34 The Right to Bear Arms

possible to place oneself into the mode of feeling
which obtained in the seventeenth century and
earlier ; the rank of gentleman {nobilis) in those
times was real, and not a mere claim to good
manners or a certain income, as we now unfor-
tunately consider it.

The word ' gentleman ' originally came from
gentle, — i.e., ' nobilis,' — a rank, as we read ' gentle '
or ' simple ' ; but the moralisers have taken it up as
a weapon, and have etymologised and distorted it
into a qualitative term, and it is rammed down
one's throat that the only gentility of value is the
possession of an idealised code of manners. Such
may be desirable, but it is not gentility. Thus,
we of this generation, having had a false interpreta-
tion foisted upon us, are quite confused as to the
real meaning of the word !

In an order made by Charles Brandon, Duke of
Suffolk, Earl Marshal (i 524-1 533) settling the fees
payable upon grants of arms, he uses the words,
' Every byshoppe tkat sJiall be ennobled, £\ol and
then follows the scale of fees for those of other
ranks. A reference to the grant of Arms to
Roger and Thomas Keys on page 51 will show
that the grant of ' nobility ' was definitely put into
actual words, as follows : —

' We ennoble, and make and create noble, the said
Roger and Thomas, on account of their deserts
at our hands, together with the heirs, begotten

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 35

or to be begotten, and the descendants of the
said Thomas ; and in token of this nobility^ we
give and grant by these presents for ever the
arms and coat of arms in these our present
letters depicted, etc'

Alexander Pope {Essay on Man, ep. iv., line 203)

^^•^te:- 1239399

' Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow.'
It will be noticed that he did not write it ' gentle-
man,' nor is it so expressed in ' manners makyth
man,' which I take to be earlier than Chaucer ; for
it is supposed to have been chosen by William of
Wykeham as the motto for Winchester College,
when he founded it in 1393.

That the word gentleman continues to be
wrongly used is simply due to the vanity of
plebeians, who are so small-minded that they
cannot bring themselves to admit they are not
gentlemen, and therefore try to prostitute the word
to carry only that lower qualification, which shall
but include those attributes which they conceive
themselves to possess. Presently we shall have
everybody saying they are 'dukes,' and that the
qualification therefor is no more than the posses-
sion of decent manners. The real right in the
case of a Gentleman equally as in the case of a
Duke is derived by patent from the Crown, and
the one is as much a matter of rank as the
other.

2,6 The Right to Bear Arms

In all European countries which recognise the
rule of a Sovereign (of course, dismissing for the
moment modern evolutions of dominion) arms are
unquestionably an honour and a matter of honour
in the prerogative of the Sovereign to confer.

Undoubtedly, in the infancy of the science,
people chose and assumed their own arms, and
instances are known where noblemen have con-
ferred arms on those of lower status. In
early days people chose and assumed a good
deal of their own mere motion. But in all
countries this right was soon appropriated and
annexed to the Crown at a time when the Crown
had and exercised authority on its own motion
and initiative, without waiting for any Parliament
or Convention to confer such authority upon it.
With the rest of Europe I am not attempting to
deal, though it is curious that within the last few
years, both in Russia and in Germany, a similar
movement and criticism have arisen with regard to
arms and titles equivalent to the reformation in
this respect which has been going on in England
within the last ten or fifteen years. It will be
sufficient for my purpose to demonstrate the
evolution of the present authorities in the British
Empire. That contains quite enough abuses
without going further afield.

A coat of arms is an estate of inheritance, and it
is a principle of law that no man can of himself

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 2)7

create or grant an estate of inheritance to him-
self.

Because people five hundred years ago were not
always brought to book for inventing arms for
themselves, there are those at the present day who
would foster the idea that this method may still
be pursued. A criticism of a bogus coat of arms
produces nearly always, first, the statement that
' these arms have been used by my ancestors for
centuries, or for very many generations,' which is
usually untrue, or else some wild assertion that the
arms were in existence, and have been continually
used since a time before the existence of the
College of Arms. These statements are always un-
truths. I myself have never known a single one
for which documentary evidence is forthcoming,
and the personal knowledge of no man runs to
such a period. In a large proportion of the cases
of the use of unauthorised arms, the facts generally
turn out to be that the arms were ' found ' for
3s 6d, or some such sum, at an heraldic stationer's,
perhaps ten or perhaps twenty years ago, or
were perhaps supplied gratis with a ' guinea
box of stationery.' It was then afterwards ascer-
tained that they were quoted in Burke's General
Armory as belonging to a family of the same
name, which family were promptly claimed as
ancestors. 'The arms are the same, you know;
we must be descended from them.' A suggestion

38 The Right to Bear Arms

that the arms or the necessary proofs of descent are
not registered at the College of Arms as a rule pro-
duces a sneer concerning a payment of fees to the
heralds. When it is pointed out that the College of
Arms acts under the authority of the Earl Marshal,
the sneer is transferred to him. Certainly I have
never heard it actually carried back to her Majesty,
but logically, of course, there is no reason why it
should not be, for the Earl Marshal acts under the
direct authority of the Sovereign. Consequently,
it is just as well to make it perfectly plain that the
authority really does exist in the person of the
Sovereign, and in the next place, that it has been
by the Sovereign, within certain limits, definitely,
legally, and in all due form, delegated to the Earl
Marshal and the Officers of the Corporation of the
College of Arms in and for England, Wales and
the Colonies, to Lyon King of Arms in and for
Scotland, and to Ulster King of Arms in and for
the kingdom of Ireland.

I should be sorry to commit myself to any definite
statement as to the earliest instance of the assertion
by the Crown of its authority over and control of
armorial matters. Most writers content them-
selves with a reference to the writ of Henry V.,
which I quote on page 44. But certainly the Crown
must have been recognised as the authority at a
much earlier date, for in 10 Edward II. (13 17) a
licence is said to have been granted to Edmund

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 39

Deincourt to transfer his name and arms to
Isabella, his heir presumptive. The only licence,
however, now upon the Patent Rolls to Edmund
Deincourt which I have been able to find, relates
to the disposal of his lands. It refers in the
preamble to the name and arms, but these are not
thereinafter specifically dealt with, and if this really
be the licence in question, the concession of the
permission for the change must be presumed in-
ferentially from the preamble and from the licence
to settle the estates. But another and d, previous
licence is referred to in the licence of 13 17, and
this other I have been unable to find.

Per contra, Lord Hoo had made a grant of name
and arms without the King's licence, and this was
adjudged void. I have not the exact date of this,
but Lord Hoo died February 13, 1454-5.

Here, however, is the very earliest instance I
can find of the existence and exercise of authority
and control in relation to Coat-Armour. I refer to
the well-known Scrope v. Grosvenor case. This
is extremely important, for it affords conclusive
evidence that even at that date (1390) there was
such a matter as law and order in the use of arms.
Apparently one person had a remedy against
another ; an appeal lay to the Marshal and
Constable, who sat as judges with authority, not
only to adjudicate between two disputants but
with authority to assign arms ; and, more than

40 The Right to Bear Arms

all, the case shows plainly that the right of appeal
was to the King personally^ who not only decided
the case, but of his own motion quashed the arms
assigned by the Constable to Sir Robert Gros-
venor. The case can be found summarised
in Part V. of the Herald and Genealogist
(June 1863). As every one knows, after a pro-
tracted hearing before the Constable and the
Deputy of the Marshal, the famous coat ' Azure,
a bend or ' was allowed to Sir Richard le Scrope
as his rightful arms. The Constable in his
judgment assigned to Sir Robert Grosvenor the
Arms ' Azure, a bend or, with a plain bordure
argent' Sir Robert Grosvenor at once appealed
to the King.

The final judgment recites the original sentence
by the Constable, and condemnation of Sir
Robert Grosvenor in the costs, with reservation
of the taxation of the same. The King, con-
sidering the great and frivolous delays in the
cause, and that the Commissioners have fully
suspected and diligently examined all the acts
produced, and the witnesses in the first as well as
in the second instance, with full and mature
deliberation, had with his uncle the Duke of
Acquitaine and Lancaster and other learned
persons, declared the sentence and judgment pro-
nounced by the Constable as aforesaid to have
been in all points good and lawful — that is to

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 41

say, that the arms, ' Azure, a bend or,' do appertain
to the said Sir Richard le Scrope, and doth ratify
and confirm the same, adjudging the said arms
to Sir Richard and his heirs, and laying and
imposing upon Sir Robert Grosvenor and his
heirs perpetual silence in respect of the bearing
of such arms entire or with difference, and con-
demning him, the said Sir Robert and his party,
in the costs and expenses of the said Sir Richard,
the taxation whereof the King reserves to him-
self or his Commissioners. And whereas the
said Constable hath of his courtesy awarded and
ordained to the said Sir Robert, to bear the
arms, ' Azure, a bend or, with a plain bordure
argent,' the King, nevertheless, considering the
premises, and that such bordure is not a suffi-
cient difference in arms between two strangers
[in blood] in one kingdom, but only between
cousin and cousin in blood ; considering also that
the said Sir Robert hath in his libel of appeal
demanded generally that the said sentence should
be cancelled and annulled, and also that in his
two objective informations to the Com.missioners
he had alleged that the award and ordinance of
the said arms with a plain bordure was erroneous,
inasmuch as he had never demanded such arms,
requiring that such award and ordinance so
made should be cancelled and annulled ; and
considering further that the said Richard hath

42 The Right to Bear Arms

preferred the same requisition ; the King there-
fore cancels and annuls the said definitive
sentence accordingly. Given and promulgated
as the King's definitive judgment, in the great
chamber called the Chamber of Parliament with-
in the Royal Palace of Westminster, the 27th
of May, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
Here is another instance a year or two later : —

' P' Thoma Comite Marescallo et Notyngh' *

' R' Om'ibz ad quos etc. sal't'm. Sciatis q'd cum
dil'c'us et fidelis Consanguineus n'r Thomas
Comes marescallus et Notyngh' h'eat iustu'
titulu' hereditatiuu' ad portand' p' cresta sua
vnu' leopardum de auro cum vno labello albof
qui de iure asset cresta filii n'ri primogeniti
si quern procreassem.' Nos ea considerac'o'e
concessim' p' nob' et heredibz n'ris eidem
Thome et heredibz suis q'd ip'i p' differencia
in ea p'te deferre possint et deferant vnu, leo-
pardum et in loco labelli vna' coronam de
argentof absqz impedimento n'ri vel heredu'

* Patent Roll (339), 17 Ric. II., Pt. i, mem. 2,

t It is worthy of note, by the way, that whilst the label is blazoned
' white,' the crown is blazoned argent. The Royal labels are alwaj'S
white, and if the distinction is adhered to, it of course does away
with the apparent impossibility of depicting the label upon the
'unicorn argent.' It has been stated that the white label is
reserved for the Royal Family. Whilst the existence of such a
rule is not asserted at the College of Arms, it is a significant fact
that no official exemplification of a 'white' label exists to any
arms other than the Royal Arms, and I myself do not know of
an instance of an ' argent ' label.

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 43

n'ror' sup'd'c'or'. In cuius etc. T. R. apud
Westm' xii die Januar [17 Ric. II.].

' p' br'e de priuato sigillo.'

The translation of the foregoing is as follows : —

' The King to all to whom, etc., Greeting: Know that,
whereas our well-beloved and faithful kinsman,
Thomas, Earl Marshal and Earl of Nottingham,
has a just hereditary title to bear for his crest a
leopard or, with a white label,* which would be
of right the crest of our eldest son if we had
begotten a son. We, for this consideration,
have granted for us and our heirs to the said
Thomas and his heirs that for a difference in
this behalf they shall and may bear a leopard,
and in place of a label a crown argent,* without
hindrance from us or our heirs aforesaid, — In
witness, etc. Witness the King at West-

L. minster, the 12th day of January [17 Ric. II.].

■ ' By writ of Privy Seal.'

I am told of a general armorial edict as early as
the reign of Richard II. Whether such an edict
ever existed or not I cannot say, for I have been
unable to learn anything whatsoever about its
existence or its tenor. But I imagine no one will
be so foolish as to question the fact that sufficient
power and authority were vested in the person of
King Henry V. to make and enforce such regula-
tions as he thought necessary.

Certain is it that in the year 141 8 he issued a
writ, of which a copy follows : —
* Ihid., t, p. 42.

44 The Right to Bear Anns

Writ of Henry V, regulating Coat- Armour,
1418*
* Rex Vicecomiti salutem, etc. Quia, prout in-
formamur, diversi homines, qui in viagiis
nostris ante haec tempora factis, Arma &
Tunicas Armorum vocat, Coat-Armours in
se susceperunt, ubi nee ipsi nee eorum Ante-
cessores hujusmodi Armis ac Tunicis Armorum
temporibus retroactis usi fuerint, & ea in pre-
senti viagio nostro in proximo, Deo dante,
faciend' exercere proponant ; & quanquam
Omnipotens suam gratiam disponat prout vult
in naturalibus, equaliter Diviti & Pauperi ;
volentes tamen quemlibet Ligeorum nost-
rorum predictorum juxta status sui exigentiam
modo debito pertractari & haberi : Tibi pre-
cipimus, quod, in singulis locis intra Ballivam
tuam, ubi per breve nostrum nuper p'monstris
faciendis p'clamari demandavim' publico ex
parte n'ra proclamari fac' quod nullus cujus-
cunque status, gradus, seu conditionis fuerit,
hujusmodi Arma sive Tunicas Armorum in
se sumat, nisi ipse jure antecessorio, vel ex
donatione alicujus ad hoc sufficientem potes-
tatem habentis, ea possideat aut possidere
debeat. Et quod ipse Arma sive Tunicas illas
ex cujus dono obtinet die monstrationis sue,
personis ad hoc per nos assignatis seu assig-
nandis manifeste demonstret, exceptis illis qui
nobiscura apud bellum de Agincourt arma
portabant, sub pcenis non admissionis ad pro-
ficiendum in Viagio predicto sub numero ipsius
cum quo retentus existit, ac perditionis vadio-
* Close Roll, 5 Henry V., mem. 15.

Origin and Meaning of A^nns, &c. 45

rum suorum ex causa predicta perceptorum,
necnon rasura & ruptura dictorum Armorum
& Tunicarum, vocat' Coat-Armours, tempore
monstrationis sue predicto, si ea super ilium
raonstrata fuerint seu inventa. Et hoc nulla-
tenus omittas. T. R. apud Civitatem Nov,
Sarum, secundo die Junii.

' Per ipsum Regem.

' Consimilia Brevia diriguntur Vicecomitibus
Wilts, Sussex, Dorset, sub eadem data.'

Of the foregoing, the following may be taken as
an exact translation : — *

' The King to the Sheriff, greeting, etc. — Whereas,
as we are informed, [of] divers men who, on
our journeys heretofore made, assumed unto
themselves Arms and Coats of Arms, called
Coat-Armours, in cases where neither they nor
their ancestors in times gone by used such
Arms and Coats of Arms, and propose to make
use of them in our present journey, now, God
willing, just about to be made ; and, although
the Almighty distributes his favours in nature
according to his will, equally to the rich man
and to the poor ; nevertheless we, willing that
each of our lieges aforesaid should be held and
considered as his rank demands, charge you to
cause to be publicly proclaimed on our behalf,
in all places within your Bailiwick, where by
our writ we have lately commanded proclama-
tions to be made for the holding of musters,

* Similar writs are addressed to the Sheriffs of Wilts, Sussex, and
Dorset.

46 The Right to Bear Arms

that no one, of whatsoever rank, degree or
condition he may be, shall assume such Arms
or Coats of Arms, unless he possesses or ought
to possess the same in right of his ancestors, or
by the gift of some person having adequate
power for that purpose. And that he shall
plainly show forth, on the day of his mustering,
by whose gift he holds those Arms or Coats of
Arms, to the persons for this purpose by us
assigned or to be assigned, those excepted who
bore arms with us at the battle of Agincourt,
under pain of not being admitted to take part
in the journey aforesaid in the train of him by
whom he may have been retained, and of the
loss of the wages received by him on the said
account, together with the stripping off and
breaking up of the Arms and Coats called
Coat-Armours aforesaid, on his mustering
aforesaid, if they shall have been displayed or
found on him. And this you are in no wise
to omit. Witness the King at the City of
New Sarum, 2 June [5 Hen. V.].

' By the King himself.'

It is on this writ that I take my stand for
the statement that the authority was vested in
and assumed and asserted — arrogated, if you
like — by the King. There cannot be anything
clearer or more definite than the clause ending :
Et quod ipse arma sive tunicas illas ex cujus dono
obtinet die monstrationis sue personis ad hoc per
nos assignatis seu assignandis manifeste demon-

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 47

stret exceptis illis qui nobiscum apud bellum de
Agincourt arma portabant'

Since the date of that proclamation, the sole
power and authority concerning arms has re-
mained with and has been asserted by the Crown.
The continuity has never lapsed ; there has been
no interregnum ; there has been no waiving of
the control ; and though in modern times the
enormous powers formerly exercised by the
officers of arms have not been rigidly or objec-
tionably enforced, the power and authority has
remained, and still exists in its absolute entirety.

There are those of that certain class of mind
which is quite content to accept anything as gospel
for which there is Shakesperean authority. For
their benefit I quote the following, for it is not
unlikely that Shakespeare had this writ in mind,
or perhaps it was a matter of common knowledge
in his day that use of arms at Agincourt was
accepted as proof of gentility, when he put these
words into King Henry's mouth on the eve of
that great battle (Act IV., scene iii.) : —

' We few, we happy few, we band of brothers ;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother ; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition.'

After the restoration Charles II. issued a
warrant, a copy of which is now preserved in the
College of Arms, in the course of which he re-

48 The Right to Bear Arms

asserted that matters of names and arms were
matters in the sole prerogative of the Crown. I
append a copy of that part of it which relates to
my subject. The Warrant is dated June 6th,
1679, and recites that the Duke of Newcastle had
represented that his son and heir-apparent, Henry,
Earl of Ogle, had married Elizabeth, Lady Percy,
sole daughter and heir to Jocelin, late Earl of
Northumberland, deceased, and had 'earnestly
besought us to grant our Royal assent, leave
and allowance That he the said Henry, Earl of
Ogle, and the descendants of his body by the
said Eliz., Lady Percie, may assume and take
the Surname of Percie and bear the Armes of
Percie quarterly with his own Paternall Armes,
neither of which may regularly be done according
to the law of Armes without y speciall dispensacon
and Licence of us, as we are by Our Supream power
and Prerogative the onely Fountain of Honour
Know ye therefore that we of our Princely Grace
and Speciall Favour, at y'' humble request of the
said Duke of Newcastle and Earl of Ogle, have
given and Granted, and do by these presents give
and grant, unto him the said Earl of Ogle and to
the heirs and descendants of his body to be be-
gotten on y« sd. Eliz. Lady Percie now his wife,
and to every of them full power, licence and
authority to assume and take,' etc., etc.

The Patent goes on to recite the permission
given, and ends with a clause requiring the

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 49

warrant to be duly registered in the College of
Arms.

The Sovereign, of his or her direct initiative and
mere motion, in ancient times occasionally directly
intervened in armorial matters. At the present
day the same practice is still carried out. The
Kings of Arms in England, for example, have
no power in themselves to grant the lawful arms
of one family to another family, and in England
and Ireland a Royal Licence under the Privy
Seal and actual sign-manual of the Sovereign
is necessary if it is wished to assume the arms
of another family. In one or two cases, e.g., in
the granting of arms to a Colony, the Sovereign
has, even in the present reign, granted arms direct
by means of a Warrant merely commanding such
arms and warrant to be recorded in the Heralds'
College. This is then done, and such arms exist
simply on the strength of the Warrant, no formal
Patent being issued by the Kings of Arms. A
similar course is adopted when arms are assigned
to the different members of the Royal Family.
Probably it is news to many that the Royal Arms
as such are not hereditary, in the ordinary sense
of the word, and a separate warrant issues for each
individual. But all such Royal Warrants relating
to Arms are always required to be, a7id are, recorded
in the College of Arms. The following is an ex-
ample of an ancient grant of arms direct from the
Sovereign : —

50 The Right to Bear Arms

Me'" q'd ista billa lib'ata fuit d'no Cancellar'
Angl' xix° die Maii Anno xxvij exequend' *

' Placeat supp'mo d'no n'ro Regi de gr'a v'ra
sp'ili graciose co'cedere fidelibus ligeis v'ris
Rogero Keys cl'ico et Thome Keys fr'i sue
vr'as litteras patentes tenorem subsequentem
in debita forma co'tinentes Rex etc. Om'ibz
ad quos p'sentes I're p'uen 'int sal' t'm. Cum
p'ncipis cuius-cu'qz intersit et deceat suos
subditos p'cipue illos qui sibi s'uicia impendent
honoribz p'uilegiis et dignitatibz p'miare et
decorare ut ad h'mo'i s'uicia impend' citius
animent' et fiant p'm'ciores hinc est q'd nos
co'sideraco'em h'entes ad grata et laudabilia
s'uicia que dilectus cl'icus noster Rogerus Keys
multiplicit' ac diu'simode nobis ta' in op'ac'o'is
n'ris edificac'o'is Collegii nostri Regalis b'te
Marie de Eton iux'* Windesor' q'm alias
impendit et impendet infutur' volentes qz
eid'm Rogero ac Thome Keys fr'i suo et suis
sup' p'dict' honoribz p'iuilegiis et dignitatibz
gr'am n'ram impartire eosd'm Roger' et
Thoma' tanq' b'n' merit' 'se nobis h' at' necnon
ab eod'm Thoma p'creatos et procreand' et
descendentes ab eod'm nobilitamus nobiles q'
facimus et creamus. Et in signu' h'mo'i
nobilitat' arma et armor' insignia in hiis p'ntibz
n'ris I'ris depictaf cum libertatibz immunitatibz

* In the Museum of the P.R.O. (central stand). This of course
is not the actual document making the grant. The formal grant,
however, is known to have been issued, and was no doubt issued in
the terms prayed.

tThe arms in question were depicted per chevron gules and
sable, three keys erect, wards upwards, or.

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 51

priuilegiis Franchesiis juribz et aliis insigniis
viris nobilibz debit' et consuet' imp'p' dam,
et concedimus p' p'sentes. In cuius rei testi-
moniu' has I'ras nostras fieri fecim' patent' T
meip'o etc'

Of the foregoing document the following is a
translation : —

Memorandum that this bill was delivered to
THE Lord Chancellor of England on the
19TH DAY OF May in the 27TH year.

' May it please our supreme lord the King of your
especial grace graciously to grant to your faith-
ful lieges Roger Keys, clerk, and Thomas Keys,
his brother, your letters patent in due form, of
tenor as follows : —

' The King, etc., to all to whom these present
letters shall come, greeting. Whereas it behoves
and becomes every prince to reward and adorn
with privileges and dignities all his subjects,
especially those who render him services, that
they may be the better encouraged to perform
such services, and may be rendered the more
prompt therein, we, having regard to the good
and praiseworthy services of divers kinds ren-
dered to us on many occasions by our beloved
clerk, Roger Keys, both in the work of building
our Royal College of the Blessed Mary of Eton
by Windsor, and; in other ways, and which he
will continue to render us, desirous of bestowing
our favour on the said Roger and Thomas Keys,
his brother, and his [ ? family] as regards the
said honours, privileges and dignities, we en-
noble, and make and create noble, the said Roger

52 The Right to Bem^ Arms

and Thomas, on account of their deserts at our
hands, together with the heirs, begotten or to
be begotten, and the descendants of the said
Thomas ; and in token of this nobiHty, we give
and grant by these presents for ever the arms
and coat of arms in these our present letters de-
picted,* with the hberties, immunities, privileges,
franchises, rights and other distinctions due and
accustomed to noblemen. In witness whereof
we have caused these our Letters to be made
Patent.

' Witness myself, etc'

A specific Royal Warrant is also necessary in the
case of each and every ' augmentation of honour '
to a coat of arms or crest. Up to the present
time (and certainly for more than the last century)
every such Royal Warrant has contained a clause
making the grant conditional, and only operative
upon its being recorded in the College of Arms.
In fact, the Warrant nowadays is usually more in
the nature of a specific authority to the Officers of
Arms to issue the grant of and duly record the
Royal concession of grace. Without such a
warrant any addition to a coat of arms is merely
an alteration of it, and not an augmentation.

A very common little failing, by the way, is this :
When a family have been illegally making use of
arms for some time, and are then, for some reason
or other, induced or required to place their armorial

* Ibid., t, P- 50.

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 53

matters upon a legal footing, and a patent of arms
is obtained under the hands and seals of the Kings
of Arms, the coat of arms which has previously
been in use is never granted to the person intact.
If a desire for a coat similar to the one in use be
preferred, some alterations and additions to it are
of course introduced, varying according to the
discretion of the Officers of Arms and the circum-
stances of the case, in order to render it a different
and new coat of arms, and to satisfy the require-
ments of one of the rules of the College that no
two coats of arms which may be granted by its
officers shall be alike. The usual tale which one
is told — if the fact of the grant being modern by
any chance transpires — is, if you please, that the
alterations and additions are ' augmentations.'
Some of the older grants simply made additions
to the coats which had been previously used, and
this, to an ordinary individual, might lend some
semblance to the idea. But to the propagators
of such cheerful little fables I would add this
fact to their knowledge : An ' augmentation ' re-
quires, as explained above, a special Warrant from
the Sovereign. The ' augmentations ' legitimately
existing are very few in number, and are very well
known. A complete list of all augmentations, which
it has long been an ambition of mine to publish,
would occupy but little space. I have notes of
most, if not of all, but I have no sufficient means

54 The Right to Bear Arms

of ensuring that my list would be complete to
warrant my putting it into type.

Here I only refer to the matter of augmentations
to illustrate the direct action of the Sovereign, and
for this purpose I append copies of the grant by
King Henry VIII. of the Howard augmentation to
commemorate the victory at Flodden Field, — of
the Royal Warrant from Her Majesty Queen
Victoria authorising and granting the Speke
augmentation, — and of the Letters Patent which,
following upon the Royal Warrant therein referred
to, granted the augmentation to the Family of
Ross-of-Bladensburg.

The Howard Augmentation of Arms.*

To Commemorate the Victory of Flodden.

(Being a part of the Letters Patent conferring the
Dukedom of Norfolk.)

' R' om'ibz ad quos etc., Sal't'm .... Et ut
ilia victoria impost'um h'eat' in memoria &
cunctis videat' p'petta fuisse conducio'e
regimine & gub'naco'e d'c'i Consanguine! n'ri
de ub'iori gr'a n'ra dam' & concedim' p'fato
Duel & hered' suis temporibz futuris imp'p'm
in signu' illius victorii q'd ip'e Dux & hered' sui
p'd'c'i portent & gerant in medio bende armor'
p'prii no'is p'fati Ducis. videl't scuto de haward
integram medietatem sup'ioris partis leonis
rubei sagitta ore confossi depictat' q' rectis
coloribus Armor' regni Scocie, que d'c'us idem
* Patent Roll, 621, 5 Hen. VIII., Pt. ii., mem. 13.

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 55

Jacobus nup' Rex Sector' portavit h'end'
tenend' & gerend' d'c'am medietat' sup'ioris
partis leonis rubei sagitta ore confossi depictat'q'
modo & forma p'dict' p'fato Duci & hered' suis
p'd'c'is imp'p'm ....

' T. R' apud Westm' primo die Februarii.

Translation of the foregoing Grant of the Aug-
mentation of Arms : —

'The King to all to whom, etc., greeting ....
And in order that that victory [the Battle of
Flodden] may hereafter be had in memory,
and that it may appear to all that it was
achieved by the generalship, guidance and
governance of our said cousin, of our more
ample grace we give and grant to the aforesaid
Duke and his heirs as a sign of the said victory
for all time to come, that the said Duke and
his heirs aforesaid shall carry and bear in the
middle of the bend of the arms of the proper
name of the said Duke, to wit on the shield of
Howard, a demy Hon gules, pierced in the
mouth with an arrow, depicted in the colours
proper to the arms of the Kingdom of Scot-
land, which the said James, late King of
Scots bore, to have and hold the said demy lion
gules, pierced in the mouth with an arrow,
and depicted in the manner and form afore-
said to the said Duke and his heirs aforesaid
for ever ....

' Witness the King at Westminster, the first
day of February [1514].'

56 The Right to Bear Arms

Grant of Augmentation of Arms and Supporters
TO THE Father of Captain Speke, the
Discoverer of the Sources of the Nile.*
' Victoria R. — Whereas we, taking into our
Royal consideration the services of the late
John Hanning Speke, Esquire, Captain in
our Indian Military Forces, in connection
with the discovery of the Sources of the
Nile, and who was, by a deplorable accident,
suddenly deprived of his life before he has
received any mark of our Royal favour ; and
being desirous of preserving in his family the
remembrance of these services by the grant of
certain honourable armorial distinctions to his
family arms : —

^ Know ye that we, of our princely grace and
special favour, have given and granted, and
by these presents do give and grant unto
William Speke, of Jordans, in the parish of
Ashill, in the county of Somerset, Esquire, the
father of the said John Hanning Speke, our
Royal Licence and Authority that he and his
descendants may bear to his and their armorial
ensigns the honourable augmentation follow-
ing : that is to say — On a chief a representation
of flowing water superin scribed with the word
Nile ; and for a crest of honourable augmenta-
tion a crocodile ; also the Supporters following :
that is to say— On the dexter side a Crocodile,
and on the sinister side a Hippopotamus, pro-
vided that the same be first duly exemplified
according to the Law of Arms, and recorded in
our College of Arms, etc.

* This is reproduced from the Appendix to Woodward & Burnett's
Treatise on Heraldry.

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 57

' Given at our Court of St James's, the 26th
day of July 1867, in the thirty-first year of our
Reign.

' By Her Majesty's Command,

' Gathorne Hardy.'

The Patent granting the Augmentation to com-
memorate THE Battle of Bladensberg.

' UO all anC) singular to whom these present
shall come Sir Isaac Heard Knight Garter
Principal King of Arms and George Harrison
Esquire Clarenceux King of Arms of the South
and West Parts of England from the River
Trent Southwards send Greeting Whereas His
Royal Highness the Prince Regent by Warrant
under His Majesty's Royal Signet and the
Sign Manual of His Royal Highness in the
Name and on the Behalf of His Majesty bearing
date the Twenty-fifth day of August last did
signify unto the Most Noble Charles late
Duke of Norfolk Earl Marshal and Hereditary
Marshal of England deceased that taking into
consideration the highly distinguished Services
of the late Robert Ross Esquire Major General
of His Majesty's Forces and Lieutenant Colonel
of the 20th Regiment of Foot deceased upon
divers important occasions and the signal
Intrepidity displayed by him in the brilliant
action with the Enemy on the Plains of Maida
in Calabria and throughout the recent arduous
and Splendid Achievements of His Majesty's
Arms in the Peninsula particularly at the
memorable Engagement at Corunna and in the
several brilliant and decisive Actions with the

58 The Right to Bear Arms

Enemy at Vittoria in the Pyrenees and at
Orthes and more especially the Ability Promp-
titude and Energy with which on the 14th day
of August 1 8 14 with the Troops under his
command he accomplished the Capture of the
City of Washington in America after having
on the same day defeated the Army of the
United States at the Village of Bladensberg
although greatly superior in Force and strongly
posted with Cannon And considering also that
the said Major General unfortunately but
gloriously fell at the head of His Majesty's
Troops under his Command on the 12th day
of September following in an arduous attempt
to gain possession of the Town of Baltimore
And being desirous to commemorate these
important Services His Royal Highness had
been pleased to give and grant His Majesty's
Royal Licence and Permission that the follow-
ing honourable Armorial Ensigns may be placed
on any Monument to be erected to the memory
of the said Major General Ross viz*' "Per fess
embattled in Chief a dexter Arm embowed and
encircled by a Wreath of Laurel the Hand
grasping the Colours of the United States of
America the Staff broken On a Canton a repre-
sentation of the Gold Cross with which His
Majesty was pleased to honour the said Major
General in testimony of His Royal Approbation
of his Services in base the Arms of Ross of
Ross Trevor'' with this Motto " Bladensberg."
And for Crest in addition to that of Ross the
following Viz* " Out of a Mural Crown a dexter
Arm grasping the Colours as in the Arms"

I

Origin and Meaning of Arins, dfc. 59

And His Royal Highness did further grant and
ordain that the said honourable Armorial
Distinctions may be borne and used by Eliza-
beth Catherine Ross Widow and Relict of
the said Major General during her Widowhood
and by his Descendants and that she and they
may henceforward be called " Ross of Bladens-
BERG " as a Memorial to them and to His
Majesty's beloved subjects in general of the
Loyalty Ability and Valour of that highly
distinguished Officer whose valuable Life was
thus gloriously devoted to the Service of his
Country Provided the said honourable Armorial
Distinctions be first duly exemplified according
to the Laws of Arms and recorded in the
Heralds' Office otherwise the said Royal Licence
and Permission to be void and of none effect
And forasmuch as Henry Thomas Howard
MoLYNEUX Esquire Deputy with the Royal
Approbation to his Brother the Most Noble
Bernard Edward Duke of Norfolk Earl
Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England
did by Warrant under his hand and seal bear-
ing date the twentieth day of April instant
authorize and direct us to exemplify such
honourable Armorial Distinctions accordingly
Know ye therefore that We the said Garter
and Clarenceux in obedience to the said
Royal Command in pursuance of the said
Warrant and by Virtue of the Letters Patent of
our several Offices to each of Us respectively
granted do by these Presents exemplify
the honourable Armorial Distinctions follow-
ing that is to say Per fess embattled Argent

6o The Right to Bear Arms

and Or in Chief issuant a dexter Arm
embowed vested Gules CufF Azure encircled by
a Wreath of Laurel the hand grasping a Flag
Staff broken in bend Sinister therefrom flowing
the Colours of the United States of America
proper in Base the Arms of Ross of Ross
Trevor on a Canton of the third pendent from
a Ribband a Representation of the Cross pre-
sented by Command of His Majesty to the
said late Major General in testimony of his
Royal Approbation of his Services with the
Motto " Bladensberg " And for a Crest of
honourable Augmentation in addition to the
Crest of the Family of Ross of Ross Trevor the
following that is to say On a Wreath of the
Colours Out of a Mural Crown Or a dexter
Arm grasping the Colours as in the Arms as
the same are in the Margin hereof more plainly
depicted the said Arms and Crest to be placed
on any Monument to be erected to the Memory
of the said late Major General Robert Ross
and to be borne and used for ever hereafter by
his Descendants and the said Arms to be borne
and used by her the said Elizabeth Catherine
Ross during her Widowhood according to the
Tenor of the said Royal Warrant and the Laws
of Arms In Witness whereof We the said
Garter and Clarenceux Kings of Arms have
to these Presents subscribed our Names and
affixed the Seals of our several Offices this
twenty-sixth day of April in the Fifty-sixth year
of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George
the Third by the Grace of God of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King

Origin and Meaning of Arms, &c. 6i

Defender of the Faith etc. and in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixteen.

' Isaac Heard Garter Principal King

' of Arms.

' George Harrison Clarenceux King
' of Arms.'

One last proof of the presently operative direct
action of the Sovereign : — Each successive Duke
of Norfolk is personally invested by the Sovereign,
who, on his succession, hands to each Earl Marshal
the baton or staff, which is the outward symbol of
his office. The present Earl Marshal was so in-
vested in January 1869.

So much in proof of the direct action and inter-
ference of the Crown. I have shown the authority
to exist, I have shown the continuity of such direct
action by the Crown from early times into the
present reign.

But it is only in very special circumstances that
the Crown directly exercises its prerogative.

CHAPTER II

THE EARL MARSHAL

The Crown has delegated in England much of
its authority — in fact, most of the details of the
granting and control of armorial bearings — to the
Earl Marshal and the officers of the College of
Arms.

Anciently the offices of High Constable and
Marshal, though held by different people, were
much interwoven.

Briefly, the duties attached to the office of High
Constable were these : — He held the chief com-
mand in the army and had cognisance of all
military offences ; he regulated all matters of
chivalry, such as tilts and tournaments and feats of
arms ; he was the supreme judge in the Court of
Chivalry, in which he sat in conjunction with the
Earl Marshal. In 13 Richard II. (i 389-90) a
statute was passed to check the encroachments of
their Court upon the other courts of law, and its
jurisdiction was restricted to 'contracts and deeds

The Earl Marshal 63

of arms,' and ' things which touch war, and which
cannot be discussed or determined by the common
law.'

Camden disposes of this subject thus : — ' Profit-
less questions have also arisen which of these two
was chief. In early times the Constable took pre-
cedence, but as judges they were equal. The follow-
ing writ is relied upon to show that the Constable
was principal, but it may only convey that either
could initiate an action, and the Constable in this
does do.'

A Writ out of the Court of Chifalry.

' Jehan, filz, frere, & Uncle au Roys, Due de Bed-
ford, Conte de Richmond & de Kendall, & Con-
nestable d'Angleterre, a nostre trescher cousin
Jehan, Due de Northfolk, Mareschal d'Angle-
terre Saluz. Nous vous mandons & chargeons
que vous faeez arrestre & venir devant nous ou
nostre Lieutenant a Westminster, a la quinsieme
du Saint Hillari, proehain venant, William
Clopton, du Counte de Suif, Esquier, pour
adonques respondre devant nous ou nostre
Lieutenant en la Courte de Chivalree a Robert
Dland, Esquier, du Counte de Nicholl, de eeque
le dit Robert adonques luy surmettra par voie
darmes, touchant ee, qu'il fauxment &
eneontre honeste & gentilesse d'armes, ad-
mis & appose le seel de ses armes a
un faue & forge fait, as dammages du dit Robert,
de C^ & plus : a ce qu'il di remandantz par
devers nous a dit jour ou iceste nostre mande-

64 The Right to Bear Arms

ment, cous ce que vous en aurez faitz. Donne
soubz le seal de nostre office, le xxiij jour de
November, I'an de regne nostre Seigneur le
Roy Henry Sisme, puis le Conquest d'Angle-
terre, cestisme.' 1428. — (Camden's Remaines,
by Phillipot, 1674, p. 240).

' That other great officer of state, the Marshal of
England, was termed simply Lord Marshal, until
the title of Earl Marshal was bestowed on Thomas
Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, by King Richard
II. in 1386. The patent, dated 12th January in
that year, increased the powers attached to the
dignity ; he is therein authorised to preside in the
Court of Chivalry, to summon the heralds to assist
him, etc., etc. ; previously he had only sat in con-
junction with the Constable (Pat. Roll, 9 Richard
II., Part i., memb. 38 ; Dallaway, p. 93).'

The foregoing quotation I take verbatim from
The Earl Marshal's Court of England, by George
Grazebrook, F.S.A.* The information may be
perfectly accurate, but I have failed to find the
patent in question upon the Patent Rolls. The
reference given is manifestly an incorrect one.
There is a grant of the Marshalship to Thomas,
Earl of Nottingham, 30 June, 4 Ric. II., in place of
Thomas, Earl of Kent, and 10 Feb. 1397 the Earl
of Nottingham was constituted Earl Marshal.

The Earl Marshal accompanied the Royal Court
in its journeyings, and his jurisdiction extended

* I gratefully acknowledge having taken many extracts from this
book.

The Earl Mai'shal 65

for twelve leucas (miles), to the 'verge' of the
Court.* This was confirmed by patent (Pat. Roll,
13 Edward III., Part ii., memb. 33 ; and 36 Edward
III., Part iii., memb. 23). His Court took cognisance
of all matters relating to honour, arms, and pedigree,
and directed the proclamations of peace and war ;
it was the Curia Militaris or Court of Chivalry ;
during times of war it was with the army, and in
times of peace sat in the Aula Regis or King's
Court ; and when the ancient Aula Regis came
to be divided among new branch courts, the
Marshals appointed deputies — in the King's Bench,
the Marshal of the Marshalsea, or Marshal of the
King's Bench. In the Exchequer, the deputy was
named Marshal of the Exchequer, or Clerk of the
Marshalsea of the Exchequer. Appeals from the
Earl Marshal's Court could be carried into the
King's Bench {Dallaway, 95, 289). Francis
Thynne, Lancaster Herald^ writing under date 3rd
March 1605 (Hearne's Curious Discourses, ii., p.
1 56), says : ' The Earl Marshal's Court had power
to imprison and commit to the Marshalsea. The
Constable and Earl Marshal have a law by them-
selves, and the common law takes cognisance of it
and concurs ; and just in the same way it concurs
in ecclesiastical law.' — See the judgment by Mr
Justice Needham, sitting with the Justices Ashton,
Moyle, and Prisott. Mr Justice Needham pro-

* Verge^ i.e., the 1 2-mile compass or radius.

E

66 The Right to Bear Arms

nounced, ' Le comen Ley prendera conizance de
Ley de le Conestable et Marshal : car en appelle
de morte est bone justificacione que le morte, luy
appelle de Treasone devant le Conestable et
Marshal par qui ils combateront la, er le defendant
vanquisht le morte al mort : Et c'est bone justifica-
tione al comen Ley : Et Ashton et Moyle con-
cesserunt que comen Ley prendra notice del Ley
del Conestable et Marshal : Tamen Prisott contra :
Mes puis ques les trois disont, ut supra : Prisott
non negavit.' The above decision seems to have
been given before 1461. Many great causes,
bearing entirely on heraldic matters, have come
before this Court. Dallaway, pp. 79, 80, notices as
the most remarkable, Harding and St Loe, 1312 ;
Warburton and Georges, 1321 (Coker's History of
Dorset, "g. 25) ; Sitsilt and Fakenham, 1333 (Collins'
Peerage, vol. iii., p. 108) ; Scrope and Grosvenor,
1389 (Dugdale's MSS., Ashmol. Mus. Oxon. ; Sir
N. Harris Nicolas published the Roll in 1832 ;
Herald and Genealogist, vol. i.) ; also Hugh, Lord
Maltby, against Hamond Beckwith, for having
assumed his arms, 1339. A mandate was issued,
1 8th January 1339, summoning Beckwith to pro-
duce ' such evidence and records of arms as we shall
allow, and to appear before us on 14th October.'
Beckwith proved his right to the satisfaction of the
Court, and received a certificate confirming to him
the right to bear the disputed arms. The severest

The Earl Marshal 67

punishment which could be inflicted by this Court
was degradation from the honour of knighthood.
This was entirely, I suppose, social and heraldic —
there seems to have been no fine or money
— and it was decreed with the utmost reluc-
tance. Only three instances of such jurisdic-
tion of the Court remain on record : Sir Andrew
Barclay, 1322; Sir Ralph Grey, 1464; and Sir
Francis Michell in 162 1. In 1568, Thomas, Duke
of Norfolk, then Earl Marshal, issued statutes and
regulations as to the process of his Court. These
may be found at length in Vincent's Precedents
(Coll. of Arms), p. 52, {Dallaway, p. 267), and are
printed by Edmondson, i. 143. In the College of
Arms are a good many abstracts of cases that came
before this Court, with the judgments upon them ;
these were the notes taken by various heralds for
their private use. Here is an example : — (3) 30th
Nov. 1637. — Sir Richard Blount v. Sir Francis
Moore, for using the arms of Moore of Barcaster.
It appears that Sir Francis had no right, but was
descended from the Moores of Barfield, co. Berks,
whose coat he may lawfully bear.

In January 1667 Sir Edward Walker, Garter,
entered a complaint against Henry Parker, painter-
stainer, in the Earl Marshal's Court, for the
offence of marshalling a funeral, when Parker was
committed to the Marshalsea. Under a writ of
Habeas Corpus he was then brought before the

68 The Right to Bear Arms

King's Bench, which declared the sufficiency of
the Earl Marshal's Court, and sent him back to
prison. After his submission, Parker was again
brought up at the King's Bench, and that Court, on
2nd February 1668, declared he might go at liberty,
being no prisoner of theirs.

I have now shown the origin of the authority
of the Earl Marshal and how this authority
and control were exercised. Though the Earl
Marshal's Court no longer sits, its authority has
never been abrogated, nor has the authority of the
Earl Marshal been in any way curtailed. That in
many directions this power and authority is not
enforced at the present day, as it might be, is to be
regretted. And having dealt with the office of Earl
Marshal, the next step is to show how the authority
has come into the hands of His Grace of Norfolk.

I append a copy of the Letters Patent heredit-
arily vesting the office of Earl Marshal in the
Howard family. By virtue thereof the Duke of
Norfolk presently holds the office of Earl Marshal,
and exercises the jurisdiction appertaining to his
office.

De con' Digntat' et Offic' Henrico D'no

Howard.*
' Carolus Secundus Dei gratia Anglic, Scotia
Francie et Hibernie Rex fidei Defensor etc.
Archiepiscopis Ducibus Marchionibz Vice-
* Patent Roll, 24 Charles II., No. 3142.

The Earl Marshal 69

comitibz Episcopis Baronibus Justiciariis Baro-
nettis Militibus Armigeris Prepositis liberis
hominibus ac omnibus Officiariis ministris et
Subditis n'ris quibzcunqz ad quos presentes
litere prevenerint salutem Cum

[Here follows grant of the Earldom of Norwich.]

' Cumqz precharissimus Avus noster Jacobus
nuper Rex Anglie beate memorie per literas
suas patentes geren' dat' vicesimo nono die
Augusti Anno Regni sui decimo nono dederit
et concesserit Thome nuper Comiti Arundel
Surr' et Norfolcie Avo dicti Henrici Domini
Howard dictum officium Comitis Mariscalli
cum omnibz et singulis suis pertinentiis pro
termino vite sue prout per easdem literas
patentes plenius apparet Et postea dictus Avus
noster per alias literas suas patentes geren' dat'
primo die Augusti Anno Regni sui vicesimo
recitando ipsum informatum fuisse quod Idem
Comes Arundel et Surr' Comes suus maris-
callus in nonnullis causis coram ipso in Curia
mariscall' adtunc dependent' Judicialiter pro-
cedere protraxit ex quibusdam dubiis divulgat'
Comitem, Mariscallum, ministrum tantum fuisse
ad precepta et judicia constabularii exequenda
tametsi idem Avus noster non tantum da
absoluta potestate Comitis mariscalli vacante
constabulario nunquam dubitavit verum etiam
eundem Comitem Mariscallum Constabulario
existente una cum eodem Constabulario fore
Judicem Tamen in huiusmodi moment! causa
absqz deliberac'one extraordinaria prius exhibita
procedere non volebat Ideoqz per semet ipsum

70 The Right to Bear Arms

et concilium suum privatum satisfactionem
amplam per multas et dilucidas probationes
accipiens eosdem Constabular' et Comitem
Mariscallum conjunctos Judices insimul et
seperatim in utriusqz eor' vacac'oe fore idem
avus noster per dictas literas suas patentes
authorizavit voluit et mandavit eidem Thome
Comiti Mariscallo quod deinceps in omnibus
causis quibuscumqz unde curia Constabular' et
Mariscalli cognitio spectabat adeo judicialiter et
definitive procederet prout aliqui constabular'
sive Mariscalli huius Regni aut iunctim aut
divisum procedebant Quodqz Idem Comes
Mariscallus honorabiles processus eiusdem Curie
omnibz mediis cum addic'one jurium quorum-
cumqz eidem spectant' Necnon Recordorum et
president' Antiquorum assistantia restituere et
stabilire conaretur prout per eisdem literas
patentes inter alia plenius liquet et apparet
Que quidem litere patentes ultimo menc'onat'
et declarac'o in eisdem fact' quatenus menc'o
fit in eisdem Uteris patentibz de absoluta potes-
tate Comitis Mariscalli vacante Constabulariat'
aut quod Constabularius et Comes Mariscallus
essent conjuncti Judices insimul vel separatim
in utriusqz eorum vacatione intelligend' sunt
solum modo respectu et relatione habit' ad
curiam Constabular' et Mariscalli et in causis
unde curie predict' cognitio spectabat Et
sic per presentes declaramus et volumus in-
telligi et quod non extendant ad vel exponi
debeant de alia authoritate quacumqz ad
ofiRcium constabularii solummodo spectant'
Sciatis insuper quod nos fidelitatem obsequium
et benemerita dicti Henrici Domini Howard

The Earl Marshal 71

intime contemplantes de ampliori gratia n'ra
speciali ac ex certa scientia et mero motu n'ris
dedimus et concessimus ac per presentes pro
nobis heredibus et successoribus n'ris damns et
concedimus eidem Henrico Domino Howard
officium AJariscalli Anglie unacum nomine et
honore comitis Mariscalli Anglie Ipsumqz
Henricum Dominum Howard Comitem Maris-
callum Anglie creamus ordinamus et consti-
tuimus per presentes Eique Nomen Stilum
Titulum Statum Authoritatem Jurisdicc'onem
Dignitatem et honorem Comitis Mariscalli
Anglie dedimus, Imposuimus et prebuimus ac
per presentes damns imponimus et prebemus
unacum omnibus et singulis dignitationibus
precedentiis preheminenciis Jurisdicc'onibus
proficuis com'oditatibus emolumentis advan-
tagiis officiis et nominac'onibus officiarior'
omnibusqz aliis privilegiis Juribus potestatibus
authoritatibz ceterisque suis pertinentiis
quibuscunqz tam in Curiis n'ris quam alibi
eidem officio Comitis Mariscalli Anglie quali-
tercunqz sive quomodo-cunqz spectantibus
aut de jure pertinentibus Ac ulterius per
presentes ipsum Henricum Dominum Howard
in eodem officio Comitis Mariscalli Anglie et
ceteris premissis eidem officio ut prefertur
pertinentibus investimus et stabilimus et
corroboramus in tam amplis modo et forma
prout Henricus Dominus Maltravers nuper
Comes Arundel Surrey et Norfolcie pater dicti
Henrici Domini Howard vel Thomas Comes
Arundel Surrey et Norfolcie Avus dicti Henrici
Domini Howard vel Thomas nuper Dux
Norfolcie Avus dicti Thome Comitis Arundell

72 The Right to Bear Arms

Surrey et Norfolcie vel Thomas quondam Dux
Norfolcie avus dicti Thome Ducis Norfolcie
vel Johannes Mowbray quondam Dux Norfolcie
vel aliquis alius Comes Mariscallus Anglie ante
hec tempora officium illud habens sive exercens
habuit sive exercuit seu de jure habere sive
exercere potuit habend' tenend' exercend' et
occupand' predictum officium ac omnia et
singula authoritates Jurisdicc'ones potestates
com'oditates proficua et cetera premissa
quecunqz eidem officio qualitercunqz pertinent'
sive de jure spectant' eidem Henrico Domino
Howard et heredibus masculis suis de corpore
suo legittime procreatis et procreandis per se
vel per sufficientdm deputatum suum aut per
sufficientes deputatos suos Et ulterius de
vberiori gratia nostra speciali dedimus et
concessimus et per presentes pro nobis heredibus
et successoribus nostris damus et concedimus
prefato Henrico Domino Howard et heredibus
masculis de corpore suo sic ut prefertur
exeuntibus Quod ipsi et quilibet eor' deputat'
rac'one dicti officii habeant gerant et deferant
tam in presentia nostra heredum et successorum
nostrorum quam alibi Baculum Aureum ad
utrumqz finem de Nigro annilatum et cum
signo armor' nostror' et heredum et successor'
nostror' in superiore fine dicti baculi et cum
signo armorum comitis Mariscalli Anglie pro
tempore existent' in inferiori fine ejusdem
baculi sculpt' et ornat' licite et impune absqz
impetic'one nostri heredum et successor'
nostror' vel justiciarior' seu alior' ministror'
nostror' quor'cumqz heredum vel successorum
nostror' Et ut idem Henricus Dominus

The Earl Marshal "jt,

Howard et heredes masculi de corpore suo
exeuntes ut Comites Mariscalli Anglie juxta
nominis sui decentiam honorificentius se habere
ac onera ipsis incumbentia manutenere sustinere
et supportare valeant ac quilibet eorum manu-
tenere sustinere et supportare valeat de vberiori
gratia nostra speciali ac ex certa scientia et
mero motu n'ris dedimus et concessimus ac per
presentes pro nobis heredibus et successoribus
nostris damus et concedimus prefato Henrico
Domino Howard et heredibus masculis de
corpore suo exeuntibus unum alium an'ualem
redditum viginti librar' legalis monete Anglie
de exitibus et revenc'o'ibz hanaperii cancellarie
nostre heredum et successor' nostror' pro-
venient' sive crescent' per manus custodis sive
clerici eiusdem hanaperii aut aHorum occupa-
torum sive receptorum proficuor' et exituu'
ejusdem hanaperii pro tempore existent' ad
Festa Annunciac'onis beate Marie Virginis et
Sancti Michaelis Archangeli per equales
portiones annuatim solvend' Et si contingat
prefatum Henricum Howard obire sine herede
masculo de corpore suo legitime procreato tunc
volumus et per presentes pro nobis heredibus
et successoribus n'ris concedimus statuimus
et ordinamus quod officium predictum remaneat
heredibus masculis de corpore Thome nuper
Comitis Arundeir Surrey et Norfolcie Avi dicti
Henrici Domini Howard legitime procreatis
Quodqz heredes masculi de corpore dicti
Thome successive habeant et teneant Officium
Comitis Mariscalli Anglie cum suis pertinentiis
universis Et Comites Mariscalli Anglie
vocentur et nuncupentur Baculumqz Aureum

74 The Right to Bear Arms

sic ut prefertur de Nigro annilatum gerant tam
in presentia n'ra heredum et successor' nostror'
quam alibi idemqz officium exerceant per
se vel per deputatum aut deputatos suos
sufficientes habeantqz similem an'ualem
redditum viginti librar' de revenc'o'ibz dicti
hanaperii nostri heredum et successor' nostror'
provenient' solvend' iisdem modo et forma et ad
similes anni terminos Eademqz privilegia pre-
heminencias ceteraque premissa quecumqz
eidem officio spectantia seu annexata in tam
amplis modo et forma prout dictus Henricus
Dominus Howard et heredes masculi sui pre-
dict' virtute harum literar' patentium fruuntur
et gaudent seu frui et gaudere debeant et si
contingat quod nullus fuerit heres masculus de
corpore dicti Thome Comitis Arundell' Surry
et Norfolcie Avi dicti Domini Henrici Howard
legittime procreatus tunc et pro defectu talis
exitus volumus et concedimus et per presentes
pro nobis heredibus et successoribus nostris
statuimus et ordinamus qviod officium predic-
tum remaneat heredibus masculis de corpore
Thome nuper Comitis Suffolcie Quodque
heredes masculi de corpore dicti Thome
Comitis Suffolcie successive habeant et teneant
dictum officium Comitis Mariscalli Anglie cum
suis pertinentiis universis et Comites Mariscalli
Anglie vocentur et nuncupentur Baculumque
Aureum sic ut prefertur de Nigro Annilatum
gerant tam in presentia nostra heredum et
successor' nostror' quam alibi Idemqz officium
exerceant per se vel per deputatum aut depu-
tatos suos sufficientes habeantqz similem annu-
alem redditum viginti librarum de revenc'oni-

The Earl Marshal 75

bus dicti hanaperii nostri heredum et succes-
sorum nostror' provenient' solvend' iisdem
modo et forma et ad similes anni terminos
eademque privilegia preheminentias ceteraque
premissa quecunque eidem officio spectantia
seu annexata in tarn amplis modo et forma prout
dictus Henricus Dominus Howard et heredes
masculi sui predict' virtute harum literarum
patentium fruuntur et gaudent seu frui et
gaudere debeant Et si contingat quod nullus
fuerit heres masculus de corpore dicti Thome
nuper Comitis Suifolcie legitime procreatus
Tunc et pro defectu talis exitus volumus et
concedimus et per presentes pro nobis here-
dibus et successoribus nostris statuimus et
ordinamus quod officium predictum re-
maneat heredibus masculis de corpore Domini
Willielmi Howard nuper de Nav/orth in Comi-
tatu Cumbrie legitime procreatis qui quidem
Willielmus Dominus Howard fuit filius natu
minimus dicti Thome nuper Ducis Norfolcie
Quodque heredes masculi de corpore dicti
Willielmi successive habeant et teneant dictum
officium Comitis mariscalH Anglie cum^ suis
pertinentiis universis Et Comites mariscalli
Anglie vocentur et nuncupentur Baculumqz
Aureum sic ut prefertur de Nigro Annilatum
gerant tam in presentia nostra heredum et
successorum nostrorum quam alibi idemque
officium exerceant per se vel per deputatum
aut deputatos suos sufficientes habeantque
similem annualem redditum viginti librarum
de revenc'onibus dicti hanaperii nostro here-
dum et successorum nostrorum provenient'
solvend' iisdem modo et forma et ad similes

76 The Right to Bear Arms

anni terminos eademque privilegia prehemi-
nentias ceteraque premissa quecunque eidem
officio spectantia sive annexata in tarn amplis
mode et forma prout dictus Henricus Dominus
Howard et heredes masculi sui predict' virtute
harum literarum patentium fruuntur et gaudent
seu frui aut gaudere debeant Et si contingat
quod nullus fuerit heres masculus de corpora
dicti Willielmi legitime procreatus Tunc et
pro defectu talis exitus volumus et concedimus
et per presentes pro nobis heredibus et succes-
soribus nostris statuimus et ordinamus quod
officium predictum remaneat perdilecto et fideli
consanguineo nostro Carolo Comiti de Notting-
ham et heredibus masculis de corpore suo legi-
time procreatis et procreandis Quodque idem
Carolus Comes Nottingham et heredes masculi
de corpore suo procreati successive habeant et
teneant dictum officium Comitis Mariscalli
Anglie cum suis pertinentiis universis Et
Comites Mariscalli Anglie vocentur et nuncu-
pentur Baculumque Aureum sic ut prefertur
de Nigro Annilatum gerent tam in presentia
nostra heredum et successor' nostror' quam alibi
idemque officium exerceant per se vel per
deputatum suos sufficientes habeantque simi-
lem Annualem redditum viginti librarum de
revenc'onibus dicti hanaperii nostri heredum
et successorum nostror' provenient' solvend'
iisdem modo et form' et ad similes anni terminos
eademque privilegia preheminentias ceteraque
promissa quecunque eidem officio spectantia
sive annexata in tam amplis modo et forma
prout dictus Henricus Dominus Howard et
heredes masculi sui predicti virtute harum

The Earl Marshal 77

literarum patentium fruuntur et gaudent seu
frui et gaudere debeant, volumus etiam ac per
presentes concedimus prefato Henrico Domino
Howard quod habeat et habebit has literas
nostras patentes sub magno sigillo nostro
Anglie debito modo fact' et sigillat' absque fine
seu feodo magno vel parvo nobis in hanaperio
nostro seu alibi ad usum nostrum proinde
quoque modo reddend' solvend' vel faciend' Eo
quod expressa mentio de vero valore annuo vel
de certitudine premissorum sive eorum alicujus
aut de aliis donis sive concessionibus per nos seu
per aliquem progenitorum sive predecessorum
nostrorum prefato Henrico Domino Howard
ante hec tempore fact' in presentibus minime
fact' existet aut aliquo statuto actu ordinatione
provisione proclamatione sive restricc'oe in
contrarium inde antehac habit' fact' edit'
ordinat' sive provis' aut aliqua aha re causa vel
materia quacunque in aliquo non obstante
In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras
fieri fecimus patentes Teste meipso apud West-
monasterium decimo nono die Octobris Anno
Regni nostri vicesimo quarto.

' Per breve de privato sigillo.'
Translation of the foregoing Grant to Henry,
Lord Howard, of the hereditary office of Earl
Marshal: —

' Charles the Second, by the Grace of God, King
of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland,
Defender of the Faith, etc., to the Archbishops,
Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, Bishops,
Barons, Justices, Baronets, Knights, Esquires,

yS The Right to Bear Arms

Officers, and free men, as all our officials,
servants and subjects whomsoever, to whom
these present letters shall come. Greeting. —
Whereas . . .
[Here follows the grant of the Earldom of Norwich.]
' And whereas our very dear grandfather, James,
late King of England, of blessed memory, by
his letters patent bearing date the 29th day
of August, in the nineteenth year of his reign,
had given and granted to Thomas, late Earl of
Arundel, Surrey, and Norfolk, grandfather of
the said Henry, Lord Howard, the said office of
Earl Marshal, with all and singular its appur-
tenances for the term of his life, as by the said
letters patent more at large appears : And
afterwards our said grandfather by other his
letters patent, bearing date the first day of
August in the twentieth year of his reign,
reciting that he had been informed that the
same Earl of Arundel and Surrey, his Earl
Marshal, postponed proceeding judicially in
certain causes then pending before him in the
Marshal's Court, by reason of certain doubts
spread abroad that the Earl Marshal was only
attendant upon the precepts and judgments of
the Constable, although our same grandfather
never doubted not only the absolute power of
Earl Marshal, when the office of Constable was
vacant, but also that the said Earl Marshal,
when the Constable was in office, was a judge
together with the said Constable. Neverthe-
less, in a matter of such moment, he was
unwilling to proceed without special delibera-
tion first had, and therefore, having received

The Earl Marshal 79

ample satisfaction for himself and his Privy
Council by means of many and very clear
proofs, that the said Constable and Earl Mar-
shal are judges conjointly, acting together or
separately in the vacancy of either of their
offices, our said grandfather by his said letters
patent, authorized, willed, and commanded the
said Thomas, Earl Marshal, that thenceforward
in all causes whatsoever, the cognisance
whereof belongs to the court of the Constable
and Marshal, he should proceed judicially
and definitively in the same manner and
degree as any Constables or Marshals of this
Kingdom have proceeded either jointly or
severally ; and that the said Earl Marshal
should endeavour to reconstruct and establish
the honourable processes of the said Court, by
all manner of means, together with all rights
whatsoever thereunto belonging, with the
assistance of records and ancient precedents, as
among other things in the said letters patent
more fully appears and is set forth. Which
said letters patent last mentioned, and the
declaration made therein, in so far as mention
is made in the same letters patent of the
absolute power of the Earl Marshal while the
office of Constable is vacant, or that the
Constable and Earl Marshal are conjointly
judges together or separately, while the office
of either of them should be vacant, are to be
understood only in respect and relation to the
Court of the Constable and Marshal, and in
causes the cognisance whereof belongs to the
Court aforesaid. And thus by these presents
we declare and will it to be understood, and

8o The Right to Bear Anns

that they do not extend to, nor ought they to
be interpreted of, any other authority whatso-
ever to the said office of Constable belonging.
Know, moreover, that we, closely considering
the fidelity, good service, and deserts of the
said Henry, Lord Howard, of our further
special grace, and of our certain knowledge and
mere motion, have given and granted, and by
these presents, for us, our heirs and successors,
do give and grant to the said Henry, Lord
Howard, the office of Marshal of England,
together with the name and honour of Earl
Marshal of England, and by these presents we
create, ordain, and constitute him, the said
Henry, Lord Howard, Earl Marshal of Eng-
land, and have given, bestowed, and conferred,
and by these presents do give, bestow, and confer
to and upon him the Name, Style, Title, Rank,
Authority, Jurisdiction, Dignity, and Honour
of Earl Marshal of England, together with all
and singular the dignities, precedencies, pre-
eminences, jurisdictions, profits, commodities,
emoluments, advantages, offices, and nomina-
tions of officers, and all other privileges, rights,
powers, authorities, and all other things what-
soever thereunto appertaining, both in our
courts and elsewhere, to the said office of
Earl Marshal of England, in any manner or
wise belonging or of right appertaining. And
further, by these presents we invest, establish,
and confirm him, the said Henry, Lord
Howard, in the said office of Earl Marshal of
England, and the other things aforesaid to the
same office as aforesaid appertaining, in the
same ample manner and form as Henry, Lord

The Earl Marshal 8i

Maltravers, late Earl of Arundel, Surrey, and
Norfolk, father of the said Henry, Lord
Howard, or Thomas, Earl of Arundel, Surrey,
and Norfolk, grandfather of the said Henry,
Lord Howard, or Thomas, late Duke of Nor-
folk, grandfather of the said Thomas, Earl of
Arundel, Surrey, and Norfolk, or Thomas,
formerly Duke of Norfolk, grandfather of the
said Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, or John
Mowbray, formerly Duke of Norfolk, or any
other Earl Marshal of England, having or
exercising the office before this time, has had
or exercised or of right could have or exercised
the same, to have, hold, exercise, and occupy
the office aforesaid, and all and singular the
authorities, jurisdictions, powers, commodities,
profits, and other things aforesaid whatsoever
to the said office in any way belonging or of
right appertaining to him, the said Henry,
Lord Howard, and the heirs male of his body
lawfully begotten and to be begotten, by
himself or by his sufficient deputy or deputies.
And, moreover, of our further especial grace,
we have given and granted, and by these
presents for ourselves, our heirs and successors,
do give and grant to the aforesaid Henry, Lord
Howard, and the heirs male of his body issuing
as aforesaid, that they and their deputies by
reason of the said office, shall have, bear, and
carry, both in the presence of us, our heirs and
successors, and elsewhere, a golden rod, ringed
with black at either end, bearing at the upper
end the arms of ourselves, our heirs and
successors, and at the lower end the arms of
the Earl Marshal of England for the time

F

82 The Right to Bear Arms

being, carved and adorned, lawfully, with
impunity, and without hindrance from us, our
heirs and successors, or the justices, or other
servants whomsoever of us, our heirs or
successors. And that the said Henry, Lord
Howard, and the heirs male from his body
issuing, and every one of them may be able
with the greater honour to maintain, sustain,
and support the burdens incumbent upon them
in accordance with the dignity of their name,
of our further special grace, certain knowledge
and mere motion, we have given and granted,
and by these presents for us, our heirs and suc-
cessors, do give and grant to the aforesaid
Henry, Lord Howard, and the heirs male of
his body, one other annual rent of ^20 of
legal money of England from the issues and
revenues of the hanaper of our Chancery, and
the Chancery of our heirs and successors issuing
and arising, by the hands of the keepers or
clerk of the said hanaper, or other the holders
or receivers of the profits and issues of the said
hanaper for the time being, to be paid annually
at the Feasts of the Annunciation of the Blessed
Virgin Mary and Saint Michael the Archangel
in equal portions. And if the aforesaid Henry
Howard happen to die without an heir male
of his body lawfully begotten, then we will, and
by these presents for us, our heirs and successors,
we have granted, decreed and ordained that the
office aforesaid shall remain to the heirs male of
the body of Thomas, late Earl of Arundel,
Surrey, and Norfolk, grandfather of the said
Henry, Lord Howard, lawfully begotten, and
that the heirs male of the body of the said

The Earl Marshal 83

Thomas successively shall have and hold the
office of Earl Marshal of England with all its
appurtenances, and shall be called and known
as Earls Marshal of England, and shall carry
the golden rod thus ringed with black as afore-
said, both in the presence of us, our heirs and
successors, and elsewhere, and shall exercise the
same office themselves or by their sufficient
deputy or deputies, and shall have a like annual
rent of twenty pounds from the revenues of the
said hanaper of us, our heirs and successors, to
be paid in the same manner and form and at
like terms of the year, and the same privileges,
pre-eminences and other things aforesaid what-
soever to the said office belonging or annexed,
in such ample manner and form as the afore-
said Henry, Lord Howard, and his heirs male
aforesaid, by virtue of these letters patent,
occupy and enjoy, or ought to occupy and enjoy
the same ; and if it happen that there shall be
no heir male lawfully begotten of the body of
the said Thomas, Earl of Arundel, Surrey, and
Norfolk, grandfather of the said Lord Henry
Howard, then and in default of such issue, we
will and grant, and by these presents for us,
our heirs and successors, decree and ordain,
that the office aforesaid shall remain to the
heirs male of the body of Thomas, late Earl of
Suffolk ; and that the heirs male of the body of
the said Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, successively
shall have and hold the said office of Earl
Marshal of England with all its appurtenances,
and shall be called Earls Marshal of England,
and shall carry the golden rod ringed with
black as aforesaid, both in the presence of us,

84 The Right to Bear Arms

our heirs and successors and elsewhere, and
shall exercise the same office themselves or by
their sufficient deputy or deputies, and shall
have a like annual rent of twenty pounds out of
the revenues of the said hanaper of us our heirs
and successors, to be paid in the same manner
and form as is aforesaid and at like terms of the
year, and the same privileges, pre-eminences,
and other things aforesaid whatsoever to the
said office belonging or annexed, in such ample
manner and form as the said Henry, Lord
Howard, and his heirs male aforesaid by virtue
of these letters patent occupy and enjoy, or
ought to occupy and enjoy the same. And if
it happen there shall be no male heir of the
body of the said Thomas, late Earl of SuffiDlk,
lawfully begotten, then and in default of such
issue we will and grant, and by these presents
for us, our heirs and successors, decree and
ordain that the office aforesaid shall remain to
the heirs male of the body of Lord William
Howard, late of Naworth, in the county of
Cumberland, lawfully begotten, which said
William, Lord Howard, was youngest son of
the said Thomas, late Earl of Norfolk, and that
the heirs male of the body of the said William
successively shall have and hold the said office
of Earl Marshal of England with all its appur-
tenances, and shall be called and known as
Earls Marshal of England, and shall carry the
golden rod ringed with black as aforesaid both
in the presence of us, our heirs and successors
and elsewhere, and shall exercise the same office
themselves or by their sufficient deputies, and
shall have a like annual rent of twenty pounds

The Earl Marshal 85

from the revenues of the said hanaper of us,
our heirs and successors, to be paid in the same
manner and form, and at Hke terms of the year,
and the same privileges, pre-eminences, and
other things whatsoever above said to the said
office belonging or annexed, in such ample
manner and form as the said Henry, Lord
Howard, and his heirs male aforesaid by virtue
of these letters patent occupy and enjoy, or
ought to occupy and enjoy the same. And if
it happen that there be no heir male of the
body of the said William lawfully begotten,
then and in default of such issue we will and
grant, and by these presents for us, our heirs
and successors, decree and ordain that the office
aforesaid shall remain to our well-beloved and
faithful cousin Charles, Earl of Nottingham,
and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten
and to be begotten, and that the said Charles,
Earl of Nottingham, and the heirs male of his
body shall have and hold the said office of
Earl Marshal of England, with all its appurte-
nances, and shall be called and known as Earls
Marshal of England, and shall carry the golden
rod, ringed with black as aforesaid, both in the
presence of us, our heirs and successors, and
elsewhere, and shall exercise the same office
themselves or by their sufficient deputy or
deputies, and shall have a similar annual rent
of twenty pounds from the revenues of the
said hanaper of us, our heirs and successors, to
be paid in the same manner and form, and at
like terms of the year, and the same privileges,
pre-eminences, and other things aforesaid what-
soever to the said office appertaining or annexed.

86 The Right to Bear Arms

in such ample manner and form as the said
Henry, Lord Howard, and his heirs male afore-
said, by virtue of these letters patent, occupy
and enjoy, or ought to occupy and enjoy the
same ; we will, also, and by these presents
grant to the aforesaid Henry, Lord Howard,
that he may and shall have these our letters
patent under our Great Seal of England, made
and sealed, without fine or fee, great or small,
to be paid or made on that account to us into
our hanaper or elsewhere to our use. It being
understood that express mention of the actual
annual value, or of the definitiveness of the
things aforesaid or of any of them, or of other
gifts or grants made heretofore by us, or by any
of our progenitors or predecessors to the afore-
said Henry, Lord Howard, by no means stands
made in these presents ; and any statute, act,
ordinance, provision, proclamation, or restric-
tion to the contrary, hitherto had, made, pub-
lished, ordained or provided, or any other
thing, cause or matter whatsoever notwith-
standing.— In witness whereof we have caused
these our letters to be made patent, witness
myself at Westminster, the nineteenth day of
October, in the twenty-fourth year of our
reign.

' By writ of Privy Seal.'

As I have already stated, His Grace the present
Duke of Norfolk, by virtue of the foregoing Letters
Patent, is now Earl Marshal.

Every Royal Warrant of the present day relating
to arms, a change of name, precedence or any-

The Earl Marshal 87

thing of that nature, is addressed "/<? our right
trusty and well- beloved Cousin and Councillor^
Henry, Duke of Norfolk, K.G., Earl Marshal and
Hereditary Marshal of England, TO WHOM THE
COGNIZANCE OF MATTERS OF THIS NATURE
DOTH PROPERLY BELONG."

Each Earl Marshal, moreover, personally re-
ceived from the actual hands of the Sovereign his
baton or rod of office, as he succeeds to the inherit-
ance of his office.

In addition to his other duties, he nominates
the English Officers of Arms.

CHAPTER III

THE COLLEGE AND OFFICERS OF ARMS

In the earliest times the Kings, Heralds, and
Pursuivants of Arms were not public officials ;
many powerful nobles, and certainly most
members of the Royal Family, attached individuals
to their persons to attend to their armorial require-
ments. Such heralds had then little or no
authority over the general public ; but certainly in
the reign of Richard III., if not at a much earlier
date, the Royal Officers of Arms were erected into
a close Corporation by Royal Charter, and there-
after, as now, formed the Corporation of the College
of Arms.

Now the date of the incorporation of the various
Officers of Arms is nearly always quoted as the first
year of the reign of Richard III. Certainly there
is a charter bearing the date the 2nd March, i
Richard III., which will be found hereafter re-
printed in full. The original charter is now in the
British Museum. This certainly does erect the
Officers of Arms into a corporate body, and if

The College and Officers of Arms 89

■nothing else can be found, is in itself of full and
ample extent for that end ; but, I believe, it really is
principally as an actual matter of fact, no more than
the grant of the messuage in Coldharbour ; and the
fact that it contains a clause erecting the Officers
of Arms into a close corporation, is by no means
proof that they were not at that date already a
corporate body ; for a supplementary charter, or a
charter of confirmation, at that date, nearly always
regranted everything that existed before. My own
opinion is that the Officers of Arms must have been
a corporate body at a much earlier date, for I am
given to understand that there are records at the
College of Arms as far back as the reign of
Richard II., which can be explained in no other
way than by the supposition that they were already
acting as a corporation. At the same time no
King of Arms or Herald seems to have officiated
in the Scrope v. Grosvenor case. But I can find
no record on the Patent Rolls of any charter before
the one of Richard III., so that there is no alter-
native but to take one's stand upon that charter,
and consequently I reprint it. But there can be
no doubt that the Officers of Arms, whether
incorporated or not, were accustomed to meet in
chapter long before the reign of Richard III.

The Officers of Arms still remain members of
the Royal Household. The charter of Richard
III., and the subsequent confirmations of it, can be

90 The Right to Bear Arms

found set out in Noble's History of the College of
Arms. As they are there set out they are not
absolutely without mistake ; but to all intents and
purposes they are correct. They deal rather with
the constitution of the officers into a corporate
body, and the privileges as such conferred upon
them, than with the point I am concerned to
emphasize, namely, their absolute control of all
armorial matters in England.

The following is a copy of the earliest known
Charter : —

Liters de Incorporatione Heraldorqm.*
' Rex, omnibus ad quos, etc., salutem.

' Sciatis quod nos, de gratia nostra speciali, ac ex
carta scientia & mero motu nostris, necnon
certis considerationibus nos specialiter moven-
tibus, concessimus pro nobis & haeredibus
nostris, quantum in nobis est, dilectis nobis,
Johanni Writhe, alias dicto Garter regi armo-
rum Anglicorum, Thomae Holme, alias
dicto Clarensu regi armorum partium
Australium, Johanni More, alias dicto
Norrey regi armorum partium Borialium,
Richardo Champney, alias dicto Gloucester
regi armorum partium Walliae, & omnibus
aliis heraldis, prosecutoribus, sive parsevandis
armorum, quod ipsi & successores sui scilicet,
le Garter rex armorum Anglicorum, rex armo-
rum partium Australium, rex armorum Boria-

* Enrolled on Patent Roll, I R. III., Pt. 3, mem. 5, and printed
in Rymer's Feeder a, vol. xii., p. 215.

The College and Officers of Arms 91

Hum, rex armorum partium Wallise, ac omnes
alii heraldi, prosecutores, sive pursevandi
armorum, qui pro tempore fuerint, imper-
petuum sint unum corpus corporatim in re,
& nomine, habeantque successionem per-
petuam, necnon quoddam sigillum commune
pro negotiis & aliis agendis eorumdem habere
& excercere valeant imperpetuum, ac quod
ipsi & successores sui per nomina le Garter
regis armorum Anglicorum, regis armorum
partium Australium, regis armorum partium
Borialium, regis armorum Walliae, and aliorum
heraldorum, prosecutorum, sive pursevandorum
armorum imperpetuum, nuncupenter.

' Et quod ipsi & eorum successores per eadem
nomina sint personae habiles & capaces in
lege, ac nomen illud habeant & gerant im-
perpetuum.

'Et quod iidem Garter rex armorum Anglico-
rum, rex armorum partium Australium, rex ar-
morum Borialium, rex armorum partium
Wallise, ac alii heraldi, prosecutores, sive pur-
sevandi armorum, & successores sui, per
hujusmodi nomen, terras, tenementa, haeredita-
menta, & possessiones, ac bona & catalla
qusecumque perquirere & habere possint.

'Ac pro terris, tenementis, redditibus, &
possessionibus, juribus, rebus, bonis, catallis
quibuscumque ; in quibuscumque actionibus,
causis, demandis, querelis, & placitis, tarn
realibus & personalibus quam mixtis, cujus-
cumque generis fuerint vel naturae, in quibus-
cumque curiis, coram quibuscumque justiciariis
aut judicibus, spiritualibus vel secularibus,,
placitare & implacitari, ac respondere & res-

92 The Right to Bear Arms

ponderi valeant imperpetuum, prout & in
eodem modo quo cateri liegiae nostrse per-
sonse habiles & capace sin lege placitare &
implacitari, respondere & responderi po-
terunt & consueverunt.

* Quodque prsedicti Garter rex armorum Angli-
corum, rex armorum partium Australium, rex
armorum partium Borialium, rex armorum
Wallise, & alii heraldi, prosecutores, sive
pursevandi armorum, & eorum successores,
& eorum libitum invicem commorentur, ac
ad dies, loca, & tempora congrua & opor-
tuna, quotiens & quando eis placuerit, ad
tractandum, communicandum, & concordan-
dum inter se ipsos, & una cum aliis, pro
consilio & avisamento, pro bono statu,
eruditione, & regimine, facultatis suae
praedictse convenire possint.

* Et, ut ipsi quendam locum sive mansionem
congruum in ea parte habeant, de gratia
nostra speciali et ex mero motu.

' Dedimus & concessimus eisdem, Garter Regi
Armorum Anglicorum, Regi Armorum Partium
Australium, Regi Armorum Partium Borialium,
Regi Armorum Wallise, & aliis Heraldis,
Prosecutoribus sive Pursevandis Armorum,
unum Mesuagium cum Pertinentis in Londonia
in Parochia Omnium Sanctorum Parva vocat
Coldearber.

' Habendum & Tenendum Mesuagium illud
cum Pertinentiis eisdem Garter regi armorum
Anglicorum, regi armorum partium Australium,
regi armorum partium Borialium, regi ar-
morum Wallise, & heraldis, prosecutoribus,
sive persevandis armorum, & successoribus

The College a7id Officers of Arms 93

suis, ad usum duodecim principalium & pro-
borum eorundem pro tempore existentium
imperpetuum, absque compoto seu aliquo alio
inde nobis vel hagredibus nostris reddendo vel
faciendo.

' Et ulterius de uberiori gratia nostra con-
cessimus & licentiam dedimus, pro nobis &
haeredibus nostris prasdictis, quantum in nobis
est, praefatis Garter regi armorum Anglicorum,
regi armorum partium Australium, regi armo-
rum partium Borialium, regi armorum Walliae,
& aliis heraldis, prosecutoribus, sive pur-
sevandis armorum, & successoribus suis, quod
ipsi terras, tenementa, redditus, & posses-
siones, quae de nobis non tenentur in capite, ad
valorem viginti librarum per annum, ultra
reprisas, & ultra messuagium praedictum,
cum pertinentiis, a quibuscumque personis
secularibus vel regularibus adquirere possint.

' Habenda & tenenda eis & successoribus suis
imperpetuum, ad intentionem inveniendi unum
capellanum idoneum ad celebrandum singulis
diebus, in messuagio praedicto, vel extra, ad
libitum regum armorum praedictorum, pro
salubri statu nostro & Annae consortis nostrae,
& Edwardi principis Walliae, primogeniti nostri,
dum vixerimus : & pro animabus nostris cum
ab hac luce migraverimus, ac pro bono statu
omnium benefactorum regum armorum supra
nominatorum dum vixerint, & pro animabus
suis cum ab hac luce migraverint, ac pro
animabus omnium fidelium defunctorum, juxta
discretiones & ordinationes praedictorum Gar-
ter regis armorum Anglicorum, regis armorum
partium Australium, regis armorum partium

94 The Right to Bear Arms

Borialium, regis armorum Wallise, & aliorum
heraldorum, prosecutorum, sive pursevandorum
armorum, & successorum suorum.

' Et haec omnia absque impetitione, impedi-
mento, perturbatione, aut gravamine nostri
vel haeredum nostrorum, justitiariorum, vice-
comitum, escaetorum, coronatorum, ballivorum,
seu ministrorum nostrorum quorumque.

' Et absque aliquibus aliis Uteris regis paten-
tibus, seu aliquibus inquisitionibus super aliquo
brevi de ad quod dampnum, aut aliquo alio
mandate regio in ea parte quovismodo prose-
quendo, habendo, faciendo, capiendo seu retor-
nando.

' Et absque fine seu feodo inde nobis vel
haeredibus nostris, fiendo seu solvendo ; statute
de terris & tenementis ad manum mortuam non
pronendis edito, aut eo quod expressa mentio
de vero valore annuo messuagii prsedicti, aut
cseterorum prsemissorum, sive eorum alicujus,
vel de aliis donis sive concessionibus per nos aut
aliquem progenitorum, sive prsedecessorum
nostrorum, regum Anglise, prsefatis Johanni
Writhe, Thomae Holme, Johanni More, &
Richardo Champneys, aut eorum alicui, ante
hsec tempora factis in presentibus minime facta
existit, aut aliquo statute, actu, ordinatiene,
sive restrictione in contrarium factis, editis, sive
ordinatis, aut aliqua alia re, causa, vel materia
quacumque, non obstante.

' In cujus, etc.

' Teste rege, apud Westmonasterium, secundo
die Martii. [i Ric. III.]

' Per breve de private sigillo.'

The College and Officers of Arms 95

Hereafter follows the Translation of the foregoing
Charter of Incorporation to the Heralds : —

* The King to all to whom, etc., Greeting.

' Know that we, of our especial grace, certain
knowledge and mere motion, and for certain
other considerations specially moving us, have
granted for us and our heirs, as far as in us hes,
to our beloved John Writhe, otherwise called
Garter King of Arms of England, Thomas
Holme, otherwise called Clarenceux King of
Arms of the Southern parts, John More, other-
wise called Norroy King of Arms of the Northern
parts, Richard Champney, otherwise called
Gloucester King of Arms of the parts of Wales,
and to all other heralds and pursuivants of
arms, that they and their successors, to wit, the
Garter King of Arms of England, the King of
Arms of the Southern parts, the King of Arms
of the Northern parts, the King of Arms of the
parts of Wales, and all other heralds and pur-
suivants of arms, for the time being, shall be in
perpetuity a body corporate in fact and name,
and shall preserve a succession unbroken, and
have authority to have and use a common seal
in their business and other transactions for
ever, and that they and their successors shall for
ever be called by the names of Garter King of
Arms of England, King of Arms of the Southern
parts. King of Arms of the Northern parts. King
of Arms of Wales, and other heralds and pur-
suivants of arms.

' And that they and their successors by the
said names shall be persons able and capable in

96 The Right to Bear Arms

law, and shall have and bear that name for
ever.

' And that the said Garter King of Arms of
England, the King of Arms of the Southern
parts, the King of Arms of the Northern parts,
the King of Arms of Wales, and the other
heralds and pursuivants of arms, and their
successors by this name, shall have power to
acquire and hold lands, tenements, and here-
ditaments, and property, goods and chattels of
every kind.

' And they shall have power to plead or be
impleaded, themselves to be defendants or to
make others defendants, for lands, tenements,
rents and possessions, rights, properties, goods
and chattels of what sort soever, in whatsoever
actions, causes, demands, quarrels and pleas,
real, personal and mixed, of whatsoever kind or
nature they may be, in whatsoever courts,
before whatsoever justices or judges, spiritual
or secular, as, and in the same manner as, our
other lieges, persons able and capable in law,
have been allowed and accustomed to plead
and be impleaded, to be themselves defendants
and to make others defendants.

' And that the aforesaid Garter King of Arms,
the King of Arms of the Southern parts, the
King of Arms of the Northern parts, the King
of Arms of Wales, and the other heralds and
pursuivants of arms and their successors, and
any of them in turn, shall dwell together, and
may meet together, on days and at times and
places suitable and convenient, as often and
whenever they please, to treat, hold communi-
cation and agree among themselves and with

The College and Officers of Arms 97

other persons, for counsel and advice with a
view to the efficiency, erudition and regulation
of their faculty aforesaid.

'And in order that they may have some
place or mansion suitable for this purpose, of
our especial grace and mere motion we have
given and granted to them, the said Garter
King of Arms of England, the King of Arms of
the Southern parts, the King of Arms of the
Northern parts, the King of Arms of Wales,
and the other heralds and pursuivants of arms,
a messuage with its appurtenances in London,
in the Parish of All Saints, the Little called
Coldearber.

' To have and to hold the said messuage with
its appurtenances to them, the said Garter
King of Arms of England, the King of Arms
of the Southern parts, the King of Arms of the
Northern parts, the King of Arms of Wales,
and the heralds and pursuivants of arms and
their successors, to the use of twelve principal
and honest men among them for the time
being for ever, without any account or other
thing to be made or returned thereof to us or
our heirs.

* And further, of our more ample grace, we
have granted and given licence, for us and our
heirs aforesaid, as far as in us lies, to the afore-
said Garter King of Arms of England, the
King of Arms of the Southern parts, the King
of Arms of the Northern parts, the King of
Arms of Wales, and the other heralds and
pursuivants of arms, and their successors, that
they may have power to acquire lands, tene-
ments, rents and possessions, not held of us in

G

98 The Right to Bear Arms

chief, to the value of twenty pounds per
annum, beyond outgoings, and in addition to
» the messuage aforesaid with its appurtenances
from any persons whatsoever, secular or
regular.

* To have and to hold to them and their
successors for ever, for the purpose of providing
a suitable chaplain to officiate every day, in the
messuage aforesaid or outside, at the pleasure
of the Kings of Arms aforesaid, for the health-
ful state of us and of Anne, our consort, and of
Edward Prince of Wales, our first-born son,
during our lives ; and for our souls when we
shall have quitted this world, and for the
welfare of all the benefactors of the Kings of
Arms above named during their lifetime, and
for their souls when they shall have quitted this
world, and the souls of all the faithful, who are
departed, at the discretions and by the arrange-
ments of the aforesaid Garter King of Arms of
England, the King of Arms of the Southern
parts, the King of Arms of the Northern parts,
the King of Arms of Wales, and the other
heralds and pursuivants of arms, and their
successors.

* And all these things without let, hindrance,
disturbance or annoyance from us or our heirs,
our justices, sheriffs, escheators, coroners, bailiffs
or ministers whomsoever.

' And without any other royal Letters Patent
or other Inquisitions upon any writ of " ad
quod damnum," or any other royal mandate in
this behalf in any wise to be issued, had, made,
taken or returned.

' And without fine or fee thereon to us or our

The College and Officers of Arms 99

heirs to be made or paid, the Statute of Mortmain
notwithstanding, and the fact that express men-
tion of the true annual value of the messuage
aforesaid, or of the other premises, or of any
one of them, or of the other gifts or grants
heretofore made by us or any one of our pro-
genitors or predecessors. Kings of England, to
the aforesaid John Writhe, Thomas Holme,
John More and Richard Champneys, or any
one of them, is by no means set forth in these
presents and any statute, act, ordinance, or
restriction to the contrary, made, published or
ordained, or any other thing, cause or matter
whatsoever notwithstanding.

' In witness whereof, etc., etc.

' Witness the King at Westminster, the
second day of March, [i Ric. III. J

' By writ of Privy Seal.'

There have been other charters, etc., confirming
the powers and privileges, notably a charter dated
1 8th July 1555 (Pat, i & 2 Philip and Mary, Part ii.,
memb. 35) ; and by the express command of Queen
Elizabeth a set of ordinances and statutes were
drawn up by Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, Earl
Marshal, bearing date i8th July, 10 Eliz. (1568).

The next step is the appointment of the Officers
of Arms. The Earl Marshal (by his patent) enjoys
the privilege — or has to endure the penalties — of
nominating persons to hold such appointments as
these become vacant ; but the officers individually

lOO The Right to Bear Arms

and actually hold office by specific Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of England, issued separately
to each officer as he is appointed. The following
is a copy of the Letters Patent, of the earliest
instance I can conveniently lay my hands upon,
creating a King of Arms, followed by the Letters
Patent which appointed William Henry Weldon,
Esquire, to his office of Norroy King of Arms, the
most recent appointment of this kind which the
Crown has made. The following is a copy of the
Letters Patent appointing John Wrythe to the
Office of Garter : —

' Rex * omnibus ad quos etc. Salutem. Sciatis quod
cum non sit nouu', set iam diu ab antiquis
te'poribus usitatu', quod inter ceteros officiales
& Ministros quos Principu' lateribus pro eoru'
magnificencia atq' gloria, adherere decet eoru'
quibus officii Armoru' cura co'mittitur copia'
habere debeat, ut nee te'pus belloru' neq' pacis
sine co'uenientibus & aptis Ministris debeat
preteriri. Nos igitur co'siderationis acie' in
laudabilia seruicia que dilectus nobis Johannes
Wrythe alias nuper dictus Norrey, Rex Armoru'
parciu' Borialiu' Regni nostri Anglie, in hiis
que ad officium illud spectare intelliguntur,
exercuit dirigentes eund' propterea, & non
minus ob solerciam et sagacitatem quas in eo
satis habemus exploratas, in principalem Haral-
dum & Officiorum incliti nostri Ordinis Garterii,
Armorumque Regem Anglicorum, ex gracia
nostra special! ereximus, fecimus, constituimus^
* Pat., i8 Ed. IV., Part ii., m. 28,

The College and Officers of Arms loi

ordinauimus, creauimus, et coronauimus ; ac
per presentes erigimus, facimus, constituimus,
ordinamus, creamus, & coronamus, ac ei oflScium
illud, nee non nomen le Garter, Stilum titulum
libertates & pre-eminencias huiusmodi officio
conveniencia et concordancia, ac ab antiquo
consueta, damus et concedimus, ac ipsum in
eisdem realiter inuestimus. Habend' occupand'
et exercend' Officium illud, ac nomen, stilum,
titulum & preeminencias predict' eidem Johanni
pro termino vite sue, cum omnibus iuribus,
proficuis commoditatibus & emolumentis eidem
officio qualitercumque debit' pertinen' siue
spectan' Et ulterius concessimus et per presentes
concedimus prefato Johanni in Regem Armorum
Anglicorum ut prefertur erect' Quadraginta
libras per annum racione et causa officii illius.
Percipiend' eidem Johanni singuHs annis
durante vita sua pro vadiis, & feodis officii pre-
dicti, de parua customa nostra, in portu ciuitatis
nostre London, per manus custumariorum siue
collectorum custume predicte, in portu pre-
dicto pro tempore existen' ad terminos Sancti
Michaelis et Pasche per equales porciones, una
cum tali Liberata Vesture, qualem, et eisdem
modo et forma prout aliquis alius huius-
modi Rex Armorum siue principaHs Haraldus
tempore Domini Edwardi nuper Regis Anglie
tercii progenitoris nostri habuit et percepit
Habend' & percipiend', annuatim Liberatam,
huiusmodi eidem Johanni singulis annis ad
terminum vite sue ad magnam Garderobam
nostram per manus custodis eiusdem pro
tempore existentis Eo quod expressa mencio
de vero valore annuo premissorum, seu alicuius

I02 The Right to Bear Arms

eorum, aut de aliis donis siue concessionibus
eidem Johanni per nos ante hec tempora fact'
in presentibus minime fact' existit Aut aliquo
statute, actu, ordinacione, prouisione, seu re-
strictione in contrarium fact' edit' ordinat' seu
prouis' Aut aliqua alia re, causa vel materia
quacumque non astant' In cuius etc. Teste R.
apud Westm' sexto die Julii per ipsum Regem
& de data predict.'

The following is a translation of the foregoing
Patent to Garter King of Arms : —

* The King to all to whom, etc.. Greeting. Know
ye that as it is no new thing, but a thing now
long accustomed from of old time, that, among
the other officers and servants whom, for their
magnificence and glory, it behoves Princes to
have around them, there should be plenty of
those to whom the care of Arms is committed,
so that the times neither of war nor peace
should pass by without suitable and apt servants :
We, therefore, taking into our keen observation
and in consideration of the praiseworthy ser-
vices rendered by our well-beloved John Wrythe,
otherwise lately called Norrey, King of Arms
of the Northern parts of our Kingdom of
England, in those things which are understood
to belong to the aforesaid office, for this reason,
and not less on account of the shrewdness and
sagacity which we have had ample proof to
be in him, we, of our especial grace, have
erected, made, constituted, ordained, created and
crowned, and by these presents do erect, make,
constitute, ordain, create and crown him Prin-

The College and Officers of Arms 103

cipal of the Heralds and Officers of our illus-
trious Order of the Garter, and King of Arms
of England, and we give and grant to him the
said office, with the name of le Garter^ and the
style, title, liberties and pre-eminences to this
office appertaining and agreeable, and of old
time accustomed, and we actually invest him
with the same.

' To have, occupy and exercise the said office,
and the name, style, title and pre-eminences
aforesaid to the said John for the term of his
life, with all rights, profits, commodities and
emoluments to the said office in anywise due,
appertaining or belonging. And further, we
have granted, and by these presents do grant,
to the aforesaid John, erected to be King of
Arms of England as aforesaid. Forty pounds
per annum by reason and on account of the
said office, to be received yearly by the said
John every year during his life, as the wages
and fees of the office aforesaid from our lesser
customs in the port of our City of London, by
the hands of the customers or collectors of the
Customs aforesaid in the said port for the time
being, at the terms of St Michael and Easter, in
equal portions, together with such livery of
raiment as any other such King of Arms or
principal Herald had or received in the time of
our Lord, Edward the Third, late King of Eng-
land, our progenitor. To have and receive this
livery each year to the said John for the term
of his life at our Great Wardrobe by the hands
of the Warden thereof for the time being ; it
being understood that express mention of the
actual annual value of the things above men-

104 '^^^ Right to Bear Arms

tioned, or of any one of them, or of other
grants heretofore made by us to the said John,
is by no means made in these presents, and any
statute, act, ordinance, provision or restriction
to the contrary, made, pubHshed, ordained or
provided, or any other thing, cause or matter
whatsoever notwithstanding.

' In witness whereof, etc., etc.

' Witness the King at Westminster, the 6th
of July [i8 Edw. IV.]. By the King, and on
the day aforesaid.'

Here is a copy of the warrant for the prepara-
tion of the present Norroy's Patent : —

' Victoria R. *

'Victoria by the Grace of God of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen
Defender of the Faith To Our right trusty and
well-beloved Councillor Farrar Lord Herschell,
G.C.B., Our Chancellor of that part of Our said
United Kingdom called Great Britain Greet-
ing : We Will and Command that under the
Great Seal of Our said United Kingdom re-
maining in your custody you cause these Our
Letters to be made forth patent in the form
following : —

' Victoria by the Grace of God of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen
Defender of the Faith To all to whom these
presents shall come Greeting : Whereas it hath
been of ancient times accustomed that amongst

* Copy from the original Royal Warrant now (March 15, 1898) in
the Enrolment Office at the Law Courts.

The College and Officers of Arms 105

other Officers and Ministers whom it is meet
should be attendant upon the persons of
Princes suitable to their high dignity and glory-
there should be more especially proper Officers
to whom the care and office of arms in times of
war and peace may be committed And whereas
the Office of Norroy King of Arms and principal
Herald of the North parts of that part of Our
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England is become vacant by the pro-
motion of George Edward Cokayne, Esquire,
late Norroy to the Office of Clarenceux King of
Arms Know Ye therefore that We of Our
especial grace certain knowledge and mere
motion and for divers other good causes and
considerations Us hereunto especially moving
Have advanced made ordained constituted and
created And by these presents for Us Our
heirs and successors Do advance make ordain
constitute and create Our trusty and well-
beloved William Henry Weldon, Esquire,
Windsor Herald, a King of Arms and a prin-
cipal Herald of the North parts of that part of
Our said United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England And We have given and
by these presents Do give unto him the name
of Norroy which We do give and grant unto
the said William Henry Weldon with the style
title liberties pre-eminences and commodities
suitable agreeable and belonging and anciently
accustomed to the said office And him We
have really crowned and invested and by these
presents do crown and invest therewith To
have enjoy occupy and exercise the said Office
and the same style title pre-eminences and

io6 The Right to Bear Arms

commodities aforesaid unto him the said
William Henry Weldon during his good be-
haviour in the said office with all rights profits
commodities and emoluments whatsoever to the
same Office in anywise belonging and apper-
taining Giving moreover and granting unto
the said William Henry Weldon Norroy all and
singular other things which are incumbent
upon the said Office of Norroy King of Arms or
are known to be appertaining of right or by
custom in times past to be done transacted and
executed And further Of our more abundant
grace We do give and by virtue of these pre-
sents grant unto the said William Henry Weldon
Norroy authority power and licence with the
consent of the Earl Marshal of England or his
Deputy for the time being in writing under
their hands and seals from time to time first
given or signified of granting and appointing
to eminent Men Letters Patent of Arms and
Crests jointly and together with Garter and
Clarenceux Kings of Arms or one of them or
by himself alone without them at the will and
pleasure of the Earl Marshal or his Deputy for
the time being according to their Ordinances
or Statutes from time to time issued or to be
issued respectively in that behalf and not
otherwise nor in other manner so as that if the
said William Henry Weldon Norroy shall act
any of the premises to the contrary, this Our
present grant and all things herein contained
shall cease and be utterly and altogether void
and of none effect or force whatsoever More-
over We have given and granted and by these
presents for Us Our heirs and successors Do

The College and Officers of Arms 107

give and grant unto the said William Henry
Weldon advanced by Us a King of Arms and a
principal Herald of the North parts aforesaid
Twenty pounds nineteen shillings and eight
pence sterling by the year by reason and in
consideration of the same Office and for the
exercise thereof To have and receive the same
unto him the said William Henry Weldon
Norroy yearly and every year during his good
behaviour in the same Office at the Office of
the Chamberlain of Our Household for the
time being the same to commence from the
seventh day of March One thousand eight
hundred and ninety-four being the day of the
promotion of the said George Edward Cokayne
and be computed and paid by the day after the
rate of Twenty pounds nineteen shillings and
eight pence by the year unto and for the Feast
of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
from thence next ensuing and the subsequent
payments quarterly at the four most usual days
of payment in the year by even and equal
portions Together with such Liveries and
Clothing as and in the same manner and form
as any other person being a King of Arms or
Herald of Arms in that part of Our United
Kingdom aforesaid had and received in the
time of Edward the third Our progenitor
heretofore King of England or afterwards To
have and receive such liveries and clothing
unto him the said William Henry Weldon
yearly during his good behaviour in the said
office at the Great Wardrobe of Us Our heirs
and successors by the hands of the Keeper of

io8 The Right to Bear Arms

the same Wardrobe of Us Our heirs and suc-
cessors for the time being In witness, etc.
' Witness, etc.

' Given at Our Court at St James's the tenth
day of March One thousand eight hundred and
ninety-four in the fifty-seventh year of Our
reign.

' By Her Majesty's Command,

(Signed) H. H. Asquith.'
In the reign of George III. there were many
Warrants issued of one kind and another bearing
on the authority of the Crown in Armorial Matters,
or on the devolution of its authority to the Officers
of Arms. One in particular has a very especial
bearing upon the subject. After the reconstruction
of the Order of the Bath, the genealogist of that
Order had admitted and recorded pedigrees and
arms without proof thereof being previously made
in the College of Arms. The officers of the
College entered a protest against this practice, and
on the complaint in due course being laid before
the King, he referred the entire matter to the Law
Officers of the Crown for their consideration and
report. The Royal Warrant which was issued after
the delivery of their report contains the following
crucial and decisive words : —

* And whereas it was by the said Chapter ' [of the
Order of the Bath] ' resolved that as it appeared
to the Chapter to be the opinion of the Law
Officers of the Crown that the Heralds {that is

The College and Officers of Arms 109

to say, the Kings, Heralds and Pursuivants of
our College of Arms) have the original cogniz-
ance of pedigrees and Coat- Armour^ and that
the Genealogist cannot properly receive any
evidence of Pedigree or Coat-Armour^ to be
entered in his Books in pursuance of the
Statutes, except from the College of Arms, the
Chapter therefore humbly recommended to
us that we would be pleased to command,' etc.,
etc.

And then follow minute instructions to be ob-
served in the future, agreeably to the foregoing
opinion, as to the methods of procedure within
the Order of the Bath. These instructions, which
are lengthy, deal only with methods of procedure,
and relate to no part of my argument : and I
only quote from the Warrant to show the opinion
of the law officers of the Crown after they had
officially investigated the point.

There is another Warrant, I believe, of the reign
of George IV., which is of a similar character, but
this, unfortunately, I have not seen.

If further confirmation is needed, one only re-
quires to notice the formal notification in the London
Gazette of any change of name and arms by Royal
Licence. In such an instrument it will be seen that
the final clause runs somewhat as follows : ' Know
Ye that We of Our Princely Grace and Special
favour have given and granted and do by these
Presents give and grant unto him the said A. B.

no The Right to Bear Arms

our Royal Licence and Authority that he may
take and henceforth use the surname of C in
addition to and after that of B, and that he may
bear the Arms of C quarterly with his own family
Arms, and that such surname and Arms may in
like manner be borne and used by his issue,
the said Arms being first duly exemplified accord-
ing to the Laws of Arms and recorded in Our
College of Arms otherwise this our Licence and
Permission to be void and of none effect'

For the benefit of any one who has never had the
opportunity of perusing a Royal Warrant of this
character, I may repeat that such warrants are
addressed ^ to our Right trusty and well-beloved
Cousin and Councillor, Henry, Duke of Norfolk,
K.G., Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of
England, TO WHOM THE COGNIZANCE OF MATTERS
OF THIS NATURE DOTH PROPERLY BELONG.'

The Corporation of the College of Arms consists
of three Kings of Arms (Garter, Clarenceux, and
Norroy), six Heralds (Somerset, Lancaster, Rich-
mond, York, Chester, and Windsor), and four
Pursuivants (Rouge Croix, Rouge Dragon, Blue-
mantle, and Portcullis).

CHAPTER IV

THE GRANTING OF ARMS

By virtue of the Powers conferred by their
several Letters Patent upon the Kings of Arms,
arms have been assigned and granted by Patents
under their hands and seals since the fifteenth
century. I append copies of Letters Patent
making such grants — an ancient and a modern
instance. Here is the former : —

* XlO all and Singulare as well nobles and gent as
others to whome these pntes shall come be
seen heard read or understanded Sr Gilbart
Dethicke Knight als * garter principall Kinge of
Armes, Rob* Cooke esquyer als Clarencieulx
Kinge of Armes of the southe partes and
William Flower esquyer als Norroy Kinge of
Armes of the northe partes of England send
greetinge in O"' Lord god everlastinge foras-
much as aunciently from the begininge the
valiaunt and vertuouse actes of excellent per-
sonnes have been coramendid to the world and
posteritie with sondry monumentes and re-
membraunces of their good deseartes : Ermong-

* alias.

112 The Right to Bear Arms

est the which the chiefest and most usuall hathe
been the bearinge of signes in shyldes called
Armes beinge none other thinge then de-
monstraciones and tokens of prowesse and
valior diuerslye distributid accordinge to the
quallities of the personnes meritinge the same
To thentent that suche as by their vertues do
adde and shewe forthe to the aduauncment
of the comunne weall the shyne of their good
lyfe and conversacon in dayly practyse of
thinges worthy and commendable beinge the
very trewe and perfect tokens of a right noble
disposition may therfor recieue dewe honor in
their lyves and also deryve and continewe the
same successively in their posteritie for eur

Hub wberas Me tbe sapb Kinges of

Armas are credibly enfourmid by diuerse honest
and discreet personaiges that William Camborne
alias Paynter of deverell within the Parishe of
Gwynior within the Comitye of Cornewall gent
hathe of longe tyme vsed him self so vertuously
and discreetly that he well deseruith and
meriteth to be in plases of honor admitted
reputed and taken in the number and company
of other gent ^U COnSi^eraCOn WberOt and
for A further consideraco' of the Worthinesse
of the same Willm Camborne whose Auncestors
he'tofore haue borne Armes as apere* on p . . .
shewd vnto vs for the same, not knowinge in
what manne'' or dewe forme he ought [to] beare
them w'^out preiudice of any other and nowe at
his instant request We the sayd Kinges of
Armes by power and aucthoritie to vs com-
mitted by letters patentes vnder the great seale
of England haue rectyfied confirmed assigned

The Granting of Anns 113

geven and graunted to the sayd William Cam-
borne these Armes and Creast folowing viz. —
azure iij blockes argent one either of theim an
anlett sables Vppon a heaulme one a torce
siluer and azure iij broken broad arrowes gold
knit with a lase geules mantled geules dubled
argent as mor playnly appeareeth depicted in
this margent which Armes and creast and
euery part and peel therof we the sayd Garter
Ciarencieulx and Norroy Kinges of Armes do
by these pntes ratefye confirme assigne geve
and graunt vnto the sayd William Camborne
als Paynt' and to his posteritie for euer and he
the sayd Armes and creast to vse beare and
shewe at all tymes and for euer heerafter at his
liberty and pleasure w^^'out the impediment lett
or interruption of eny p'sonne or p'sonnes %\\
WitnCSSC wherof we the Kinges of Armes
aforsayd haue signed these p'ntes with o' handes
and sett therunto o'' seuerall scales of Armes
the [22°'*] daye of [July] Anno Dni 1569.'

The following is a copy of the wording of a very
recent grant of arms. I have no permission to
reproduce it, consequently I trust I may be excused
for having omitted the names : —

'To All and Singular to whom these Presents
shall come Sir Albert William Woods
Knight, Garter Principal King of Arms and
Walter Aston Blount Esquire Clarenceux
King of Arms of the South East and West
Parts of England from the River Trent South-
wards Send Greeting : Whereas William F
of Park in the Parish of in

H

114 '^^^ Right to Bear Arms

the County of Berks Gentleman hath repre-
sented unto the Most Noble Henry Duke of
Norfolk Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal
of England that it appears upon an examination
of the Records of the College of Arms that
Armorial Ensigns have not been duly recorded
to him and being unwilling to use any without
lawful authority He therefore requested the
favour of His Grace's Warrant for Our granting
and assigning such as may be proper to be
borne by him and his descendants and by the
other descendants of his father Samuel F
of Hall in the Parish of in

the County of Worcester Gentleman deceased
That the Memorialist having intermarried with
Martha daughter of Thomas P of

in the said County of Worcester
Gentleman deceased further requested that
arms for P might be assigned in the

same Patent to be borne and used by his said
Wife according to the Laws of Arms And
Forasmuch as the said Earl Marshal did by
Warrant under his hand and seal bearing date
the Twenty - eighth day of September last
authorise and direct Us to grant and assign
such Armorial Ensigns accordingly Know ye
therefore that We the said Garter and Clar-
ENCEUX in pursuance of His Grace's Warrant
and by virtue of the Letters Patent of Our
several Offices to each of Us respectively granted
do by these Presents grant and assign unto the
said William F the Arms following for

F that is to say Per Cheveron dove-

tailed Gules and Argent in Chief two Lions
heads erased of the last and in Base a Sala-

The Granting of Arms 115

mander in flames proper And for the Crest On
a Wreath of the Colours Upon a Mount Vert
an Antelope Argent seme of Estoiles Sable
armed and unguled or resting the dexter fore-
foot upon a Fountain proper as the same are
in the margin hereof more plainly depicted to
be borne and used for ever hereafter by him
the said William F and his de-

scendants and by the other descendants of his
father the said Samuel F deceased

And by the authority aforesaid We do further
grant and assign the Arms following for P
that is to say Erminois an Eagle displayed in
chief an Escallop between two Fleurs-de-lis and
in Base a Fleur-de-lis between two Escallops
all Azure as the same are more plainly impaled
with the Arms of F to be borne by her

the said Martha Wife of the said William
F the whole with due and proper

differences according to the Laws of Arms In
Witness whereof We the said Garter and
Clarenceux Kings of Arms have to these
Presents subscribed Our names and affixed the
Seals of Our several Offices this Twenty-fourth
day of January in the Forty-eighth year of the
Reign of Our Sovereign Lady Victoria by the
Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland Queen defender of the
Faith etc. and in the year of Our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-five.

' (Signed) Albert W. Woods Garter

'(Signed) Walter Aston Blount
Clarenceux.'

ii6 The Right to Bear Arms

A Patent of Arms in England usually grants
arms (and as a consequence confers gentility)
to a man 'and his descendants according to
the laws of arms.' Often ' the other descendants
of his Father ' are added, as in the above instance :
and occasionally, but very exceptionally, the limi-
tation has been still further widened. Such arms
then equally descend to all legitimate descendants
in the male line of those persons to whom the
arms are granted. Daughters of the house being
heiresses and co-heiresses in blood have a right to
the arms during their lifetime, and transmit the
right to them as quarterings (but only as quarter-
ings) to their descendants. Daughters not being
heiresses have the right only during life, and can
in no way transmit a right to those or any
other arms. Daughters, whether heiresses or not,
neither inherit nor transmit the crest. Unless an
undoubted right to arms exist in the direct male
line, all rights to quarterings, etc., become dor-
mant, unless or until a lawful right to arms in the
male line has been established. The son of a
plebeian father is plebeian and 'ignobilis,' no
matter even if his mother were a Peeress in her
own right.

From an order made by Charles Brandon, Duke
of Suffolk, Earl Marshal, as to the granting of
arms to various ranks in the Church, the following
extract is taken : —

The Granting of Arms 117

' And also to temporall men, which be of good
and honest reputacion, able to mayntayne the
state of a gentleman, and that none shall enter-
prise to beare anie signs or tokens of arms, etc.,
withoute they be authorised so to do by
Clarenceulx King of Arms [therefore this was
addressed to his province], uppon paine of im-
prisonment and to fyne at the King's pleasure :
provided that after the said King of Arms, his
Marshal of Armes shall not geve or graunt
armes to any vyle or dishonest occupation in
any wyse.'

There is then the following lists of the charges
for all Patents of Arms : —

' Every byshoppe that shall be ennobled, £\o ;
abbots and pryors of great possessions, £\o ;
abbots and pryors of meane possessions, ^6,
13s 4d ; deanes and archdeacons, _^6, 13s 4d ;
men of the Church having benefices, 100 M., or
about by the year, £(i ; every Crafte being in
corporation, £10 ; every temporall man having
100 M. by the yeare in land or fees, _^6, 13s 6d ;
all other being of substance under the same
valour in lands or goods, £(> ; of them which
be worth in moveable goods 1000 M. or above,
£(i ; of them that be worth in land and goods
1000 M., /5.'

CHAPTER V

THE VISITATIONS

Having dealt with the granting of arms by the
specific patents of arms of ancient or modern times,
each of which definitely contains the limits and
limitations to which it is confined, and in and to
which the arms therein granted devolve, the most
crucial incident in the history of British armory is
to be found in the Visitations which took place
throughout the whole of England in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries.

The Visitations were perambulations throughout
the country performed by the Officers of Arms
acting under a Royal Commission, in virtue of
which they enrolled and confirmed the arms
legally in use at that period by the landowning
and arms-bearing families then in existence, to-
gether with pedigrees. The arms submitted to
them were allowed and confirmed, or respited for
proof, or else rejected. The definite production of a
specific grant for the arms in question was not ne-
cessarily insisted upon by the Heralds, who allowed
and confirmed arms as borne by right when the
right to these was established to their satisfaction.

The Visitations 119

There were three principal Visitations throughout
the whole of the kingdom. Of course the actual
years vary in different localities, but roughly they
took place about the years 1580, 1620, and 1666.
There were some number of counties visited also
about the year 1680.

Copies of many of the Commissions issued to
the Kings of Arms were printed in the Minutes
of Evidence taken in the Shrewsbury Peerage
Case. But the earliest Commission was issued
20 Henry VIII. (1528-9) to Thomas Benolte,
Clarenceux, and empowered him to visit his pro-
vince as often as he should deem it necessary, and
to convene before him or his deputy all persons
that do or pretend to bear arms, or are styled
esquires or gentlemen, and to require them to pro-
duce and show by what authority they claimed the
same. It further gave him powers to enter all
houses, castles, and churches, and to survey all
arms or other devices of persons within his pro-
vince, and he was to pull down or deface all arms
unlawfully assumed, whether on plate, jewels, paper,
parchment, windows, tombs, or monuments, and to
make infamous, by proclamation, all offenders ;
and his commission included full powers to destroy
all examples of heraldry falsely assumed, wherever
it could be discovered, and ' to make infamous ' by
proclamation all and all manner of persons that un-
lawfully or without just authority, vocation, or due

I20 The Right to Bear Arms

calling had usurped or taken upon him or them any
manner of title of honour, dignity, or worship, as
esquire, gentleman, or other.

The next Commission seems to have issued in
1555 to Thomas Hawley, Clarenceux, containing
similar directions and powers, whereby it was
also provided that all such as disobey the same
should answer thereunto, upon lawful monition to
him or them given, before the High Marshal of
England.

In the 5th and 6th of Philip and Mary (1558)
another Commission, with the same authority, was
issued to William Harvey, Clarenceux, who was
further empowered to levy fines against delinquents
at his will and pleasure.

I append an exact copy of a Commission issued
by Queen Elizabeth. The majority are in almost
identical terms.

' Com'iss' p' Willo Flower al's Norrie ar' rege

ARMOR DE con' AP VIL'aM.

* Elizabeth by the grace of God Quene of England
Fraunce and Ireland defender of the fayth etc.
To our trusty and welbeloved servaunte Wilm
Flower esquier als Norrey King of armes of the
east west and northe parties of our realme of
England from the ryver of Trente northwarde
and to all other our loving subjects greating:
Forasmuche as God of his greate clemencie and
goodness hathe subjected to our impere and
gov'naunce the nobilitie people and comons of

The Visitations 121

this our realme of England Wee mynding of
our royall honour and absolute power to us
comytted to visit survey and vewe throughout
all our realme of England and all our d'nions
as well for a due order to be kepte and observed
in all things touching thoffice and dueties
app'teyning to amies as also for reformacon of
dyv'se and sondry abuses and discords dayli
rising and growing for want of ordinarie
visitacons surveys and views in tymes con-
venient according to the auncient fourrae and
lawdable custome of the lawes of armes and
that the nobylitie of this our realme may be
p'served in ev'y degree as appteyneth as well in
honor as in wourshipp. And that ev'y p'son
and p'sons bodyes polytique corporate and
others may be the better knowen in his or
theire estate degree and misteries without con-
fusion or disorder. Have therefore constituted
deputed ordeyned and appoynted for us and^in
our name our said welbeloved servaunt Will'm
Flower al's Norrie King of Armes in the said
east west and northe parts of our realme of
England from the said ryver of Trent north-
warde to visite all the said p'vynce and the
parts and members thereof appteyning to
thoffice and charge of the said Norrie Kyng of
armes from tyme to tyme as often and when as
he shall thinke most necessarie and convenient
for the same and not only to enter into all
churches castells howses and other places at his
discrecon to p'use and take knowledge survey
and viewe of all mann' of armes cognisaunces
crests and other Hke devises with the notes of
theire descents pedegrees and marriages and

122 The Right to Bear Anns

the same to enter and recorde into a register
or booke of armes according to suche order as is
p'scribed and set furthe in the office chardge
and othe taken by our said servaunte at his
creacon and coronacon and also to correcte
cumptrolle and refourme all mann' of armes
crests cognizaunces and devises unlawfull or un-
lawfully usurped borne or taken by any p'son
or p'sons within the same p'vince cont^'ry to the
due order of the lawe of armes and the same to
rev'se put downe or otherwise deface at his
discrecon as well in coote armors helmes
standerd pennons and hatchmets of tents and
pavilions as also in plate Jewells pap' parchement
wyndowes gravestones and monuments or else-
where wheresoev' they be sett or placed
whether they be in shelde schoocheon lozenge
square rundell or otherwise howsoev' cont*rie to
the autentiq' and auncient lawes customes rules
privileges and orders of armes. And further
wee by these p'sents do geve and graunte to
the said Norrie full power and aucthorytie to
reprove comptroU and make infamous by
p'clamacon to be made at the assises or gen'l
sessions within the same his p'cincte to be had
and kepte or at suche other place or places as
he or they shall thincke moste mete and con-
venient all and all mann' of p'son or p'sons that
unlawefully and without just aucthorytie
vocacon or due calling doo or have done or
shall usurpte or take upon hym or them any
name of tytle of honour or dignitie as esquier
gentleman or other. And likewise to reforme
and comptroU all suche as at any funeralls or
interments shall use or weare any morninge

The Visitations 123

apparell as gownes hoods tippetts or suche like
cont'ry to the order lymitted and p'scrybed in
the tyme of the moste noble prince of famous
memorie King Henry the seaventh our grand-
father otherwise or in any other sorte then to
theire estates and degrees dothe or shall
app'teyne. And further-more by these p'sents
wee p'hybite and forbidd that no paynter
glazier goldsmyth graver or any other artificer
whatsoev' hee or they be within that sayd
p'vynce of the said Norrye shall take upon
them to paynte grave glass devise or set furth
by any wayes or means any mann' of armes
crests cognisaunces pedegrees or other devises
p'teynyng to the office of armes otherwise or in
any other forme or manner that they may law-
fully do and shalbe allowed by the said Norrie
his deputie or deputies according to the
auncient lawes and statutes of armes. And we
forbid and likewise straitely com'and all our
sheriffs com'issaries archedeacons officials
scrivenours clerks wryters or other whatsoev'
they be to call name or write in any assises
sessions courte or open place or places or els to
use in any wryting the addicon of a esquier or
gentleman onlesse they be hable to stand unto
and justifie the same by the lawe of armes and
the lawes of our realme or els be asserteine
thereof by advertisement in wryting from the
said Norrie Kinge of armes or his deputy or
deputies attorney or attorneys. And further
we straightly com'aunde and chardge that no
other p'son or p'sons shall intromitt or medle
in any thing or things touching or conc'nying
the office of armes within the said p'vynce

124 The Right to Bear Arms

wythout the speciall lycence auctorytie of the
sayd Norrie in wryting under the seale of the
said offyce had an obteyned from the sayd
Norrie all which sayd power p'hemynence
jurisdiction and aucthorytie above specified for
us our heires and successors we do geve and
graunte by these p'sents to the sayd Will'm
Flower al's Norryie during the naturall lief of
the said Norrie in as large and ample mann'
fourm in ev'y thinge and thinges as any his
predecessours or any other bearinge the name
or title of Norrie have or had did or mighte do
by force of any I'res patents graunted by any of
our predecessors or as of righte he or they
oughte or might have used to do by force of
his said office with all mann' of p'ffitts advaun-
tages and emoluments thereto belonging.
Wherefore we will and straightly com'aunde
and chardge all and singular justices sheriffs
maiors baylieffes and all other officers ministers
and constables and all ev'y our loving subjects
that in the execucon of the p'misses they
effectually employ theire best ayde assistaunce
furtheraunce and counsaill to our said servaunt
his deputie or deputyes so often and when as
he or any of them shall requier the same in all
that you conveniently may as you tender our
favour and will answer to the cont*rye at your
p'ills. And further by these p'sents we do
aucthoryze our said s'vaunte to nominate and
appoynte under the seale of his said office so
many deputies and attorneys as shalbe thought
by him expedyent for the better execucon of
all and singular the p'misses. And if theare
fortune to fall out in this our visitacon any

The Visitations 125

mann' of scruple doubte question or any mis-
demeaner of any p'son or p'sons whatsoev' that
canne not be conveniently disised or ended by
our said s'vaunte or such deputie deputies' or
attorneys as he under the seale of his said office
shall name and appoynte. Then our mynde
and pleasure is that our said servaunte his
deputie deputies or attorneys named as is afore-
said shall com'aunde such p'rson or p'rsons
whome the said question doubte or misdemeano"'
shall conc'ne under a c'tain payne and at a
c'tain day to appeare before the earle marchall
of England for the tyme being before whome
the said sruple question or misdemeano"" shalbe
harde and ordered according to the lawe and
custome of armes in that case p'vyded and of
auncient tyme used any statute lawe p'clamacon
custome or usage to the cont*ry in any wise
notwithstanding. In witnes whereof we have
caused these our I'res to be made patents.
Wytnes ourself at Westm' the x**" day of July.

After the issue of such a Commission the Kings
of Arms themselves, in some cases (and in others
the Heralds or Pursuivants whom they appointed
their deputies) proceeded to the counties and
commenced their Visitations.

The Officer of Arms concerned exhibited his
Commission from the Sovereign to the High Sheriff
of the county, and the High Sheriff directed the
bailiff of each hundred to furnish the Officers of
Arms with a list of all persons in that hundred
using arms or calling themselves esquires or

126 The Right to Bear Arms

gentlemen. Therefore the real responsibility for
the due issuing of the summons to every indi-
vidual rested not with the Officer of Arms, who
was probably a stranger in the locality, but with
the local officials, who could surely be trusted to
know the names of those in their own particular
jurisdiction who came within the limits laid down ;
and it should be remembered that in those days
the lines of social demarcation were much more
clearly defined than is nowadays the case.

The Officer of Arms then issued a summons
either direct to everyone upon his list to attend
at an appointed place, and there and then prove
their right to arms, or else issued his orders to
the bailiff of the hundred, deputing this work of
summoning to him ; consequently if there were
any omissions in the lists of those summoned, the
fault lay with the local officials, and not with the
Officer of A nns.

The summonses issued by the Marshal or
deputies of a King of Arms were in the following
form : —

* Com Gloucester.

' To the Bailiff of the Hundred of Crowthorne

and Minety.

' These are to require you, and in his Majesty's

name to charge and command you, that

forthwith, upon sight hereof, you warn those

Baronets, Knights, Esquires, and Gentlemen,

The Visitations 1 2 7

whose names are within written, personally to
appear before us, Thomas May, Esq., Chester
Herald, and Gregory King, Rouge-dragon,
Officers at Arms, Deputies and Marshals to
Clarenceux King of Arms for the county of
Gloucester, at the Swan Inn, in Cirencester, on
Wednesday, the sixteenth day of August next,
by nine o'clock in the morning, where we
intend to sit for registering the descents and
arms of all the gentry within the said hundred,
and that they bring with them such arms and
crests as they use and bear, with their pedi-
grees and descents, and such other evidence
and matter of record and credit as (if need
require) may justify the same ; that we
knowing how they use and challenge their
titles, and by what right and authority they
bear, or pretend to bear arms, we may
accordingly make entrance thereof, and register
the same in the College of Arms, or else to
proceed as his Majesty's commission under the
great seal of England injoyneth on that behalf.
And those persons who may not conveniently
bring such their ancient evidences and writings
as will serve to prove the antiquity of their
race and family, but shall be desirous to have
us come to their houses, upon signification of
such their desires, for the furtherance of his
Majesty's service, we, or one of us, will repair
unto them so soon as conveniently we may.
And if there should be any of the degrees and
qualities above mentioned omitted within your
liberties in these our directions, that you like-
wise insert their names, and warn them also to
appear on the day, and at the place above

128 The Right to Bear Arms

mentioned. Accordingly hereof charge them
not to fail, as they will avoid the peril that may
ensue. Of the particulars you are to make a
true and perfect return, together with this
your warrant, and what you have done therein,
at the time and place above appointed.

' Given under our hands and seals this
twentieth day of July, in the thirty-fourth year
of the reign of our most gracious Sovereign
Lord, Charles the Second, by the grace of God,
of England, France, and Ireland (King),
Defender of the Faith, etc., annoque domini
1682.

' Thomas May, Chester.

' Gregory King, Rouge-dragon.'

The following is a copy of a Summons issued
direct to a gentleman to appear before a Deputy
to a King of Arms.

' Workingham parish, Co. Berks.

' To Mr Henry Staverton.
'Sir,

'You are personally to appear before Elias
Ashmole, Esq., Windsor herald of arms, on
Saturday, being the nth of March next, by
eight of the clock in the morning, at the signe
of Bear of Redding, there to enter your descent
and armes, and to bring with you such arms
and crest as you bear. Whereof you are not
to fail, as you will answer the same before the
Lords Commissioners for the office of Earl
Marshal of England.'

The Visitations 129

There were three courses open to a man on
receipt of a summons. As has been seen, he was
bound and was made to attend, or else suffer most
unpleasant consequences, but it was then at his
pleasure either to prove to the satisfaction of the
Herald that the arms he bore were his by right, or,
failing this, to there and then rectify them by
means of a grant or confirmation. If neither of
these courses was adopted, the man was required
to sign a declaration disclaiming any right to arms.

What proofs the Heralds required the produc-
tion of to establish this legal right I am utterly
unable to say, nor can I find that anyone else is at
the present time exactly aware upon what lines
the Heralds worked. One can only surmise. But
I fancy it can be taken for granted that all arms
shown to have been in use prior to the battle of
Agincourt were accepted, as then existing by
right, without question. With regard to other
arms, there were ancient ' rolls of arms ' in
existence, and the arms of important families were
matters of everyday household knowledge. In
cases of this kind, there is little doubt that if such
arms were to be allowed unaltered, or only with
the addition of recognised marks of cadency, strict
proof was required of the descent from these
distinguished families. In the cases of less im-
portant families using arms, which in no way
interfered with the rights of other people, one's

130 The Right to Bear Arms

experience leads one to suppose that the claimants
were treated more easily and the arms admitted
(that is, they were recorded and confirmed with
little or no alteration) upon the strength of usage
for a certain period. What this needful period of
usage was none of my inquiries have so far ob-
tained for me any definite knowledge, and for this
reason I am inclined to think that there can be
little doubt that the Officers of Arms making the
Visitations had a wide latitude and liberty of
action allowed them, and consequently judged
each case upon its own particular merits. This
seems to me to be the only conclusion which is
possible. There were then, of course, cases of
arms entered and confirmed at the Visitations, for
which prior and specific grants could be produced,
and there were the arms in use before the battle of
Agincourt, but arms for which usage only could
be quoted, exist, and are legal now, not by virtue
of this usage, but on the strength of their being
recorded, or of their confirmation at the Visitations.

But it should be borne in mind that of the large
number of coats of arms allowed and confirmed at
the Visitations, a very large number, probably the
great majority, were only legalized then, were
rectified at that time, were then altered or amended
or granted or confirmed as the Heralds thought
necessary, and only legally date from that period.
Though a common enough belief, it is absolutely

The Visitations 1 3 1

incorrect to suppose that the arms then entered
were all then registered and admitted by virtue
of sufficiently ancient usage. There were precious
few of that character in existence. It is im-
perative that the true status and character of these
Visitations should be thoroughly understood.
They were in no sense or degree a recognition or
admission that a man had a right to choose his
own arms, or assume such distinction without a
grant or warrant from the Crown or its officers.
Visitations wei^e primarily for the protection of
those who lawfully possessed the right, that they
might show how and whence they had obtained it,
and for the preservation of their evidences of right.
But at the same time, the Crown, of its grace and
concession, put forward an opportunity for those
who were using arms without authority to render
such arms legal by having them rectified and
recorded by the Heralds. If a man did not em-
brace the opportunity, the arms he used remained
as they were before — that is, bogus, not merely un-
recorded. The arms were illegal ; the opportunity
of making them legal was ignored, therefore the
fault lay with the individual himself, not with the
Heralds. The descendants of such people must
blame their ancestors for being so foolish as to let
the opportunity pass. I fail to see what more
the Officers of Arms could possibly have done to
prevent a man losing his opportunity. For arms

132 The Right to Beai- Arms

are legal by virtue of their recognition and regis-
tration by the Crown, not by virtue of their usage.

When a coat of arms was formally entered as
correct in the official Visitation Books, its legality
was thereby admitted, and was never afterwards
questioned.

The Heralds on their Visitations had full powers
to do many things, and among other punitory
measures, to inflict fines and penalties ; but on
this point they seem to have been peculiarly
forbearing. I have not so far been able to trace
one instance, and I believe that at the College of
Arms they have no record of a money fine levied
by the Heralds on a Visitation. Such penalties,
however, could be inflicted in other ways, although
they appear to have been very sparingly applied.
A monition before the Earl Marshal would entail
heavy expenses as well as costs. In Harl, MS., foL
69, among a quantity of heraldic matter, copies of
Warrants and Summonses for the guidance of
the Heralds on their Visitations, is the following
form : —

' To M' R. B. of N., gentleman, these to be
delivered.

'M^^ R. B., for asmuch as yo'' Refused to make
yo"' apparance before me at N., where I
latelie sate for the Registringe of the gentle-
men w*hin the Wapentake of A., according to
such warning as was given yo'' by the Baylife

The Visitations 133

of the same Wapentake I am of dutie to pro-
ceede as my Commission appointeth in such
Cases of Contempt. These are therefore to
Require yo" and in the Queen's Ma"*' name to
Charge and Comaund yo" to appeare personally
before the Right honourable George Earl of
Shrewsbury, Earl Marshal of England on the
first day of October next ensuing to answer
unto and yeild a Reason of that yo'' Disobed-
yence and Contempte : hereof faile yo"^ not as
yo" will avoyd the forfeiture of X^' to her Ma*"'
use, and the further peryll and trouble that
may ensue. — Written at B. the 19th daye of
N. An" 1 59 1

* By me Rougecrosse Marshall

for Clarencieulx King of Armes.'

If a man, when summoned, was unable to prove
his arms, and declined to rectify them at the time,
he was then required over his own signature to
disclaim all and any right to bear arms, and these
lists of disclaimers were published in the county
towns at the conclusion of the Herald's Visitation.

To those who disclaimed, nothing beyond the
publication of their names was done. They had
each signed the declaration that they were not
entitled to bear arms. Here is what one writer
says : — ' Lists of these Disclaimers, with their own
signatures, now appear attached to Visitations pre-
served in the College of Arms, and are considered
as absolute renunciations of heraldic honours, and
binding upon their posterity.' Edmondson, 1. 160,

134 ^-^^ Right to Bear Arms

says the same thing : — ' Were obliged, under their
own hands, to disclaim all pretence or title there-
unto for the future.' Considerable pressure was
probably brought to bear on these persons, for
they had to ' Prove their arms, or then put them
in order, or else sign a renunciation, or be cited
before the Earl Marshal,' and if they chose the
alternative of renunciation and signed, there was
an end of the matter (and certainly of any pre-
scriptive usage they might have put forward for
consideration), for ever as far as they and their
actual descendants were concerned.

The Form of a Disclaimer can best be shown by
the reproduction of an actual instrument : —

'Cheshire. 3 Sept. 1663.

' We, whose Names are here underwritten, being
duly summoned by William Dugdale, Esq.,
Norroy King of Arms, in his Visitation of the
County Palatine of Chester, as well for the
approving and justifying our bearing of Arms,
as the taking upon us the Names and Titles
of Esquires or Gentlemen ; not being able to
shew any good Right to either of those Titles,
nor knowing at present of any Arms belonging
to us, do hereby disclaim all such Attributes
and Arms ; and do promise henceforth to for-
bear to make use of either, until such time as
we can by lawful Authority do the same.

'Robert Morrey, ^

'Jonathan Crosse, L Chester.'

'James Knoll,

' Richard Heath, etc., /

The Visitations 135

Though the list of disclaimers in each county is
frequently a lengthy one, I have found no instance
of any man who possessed an undoubted right to
arms disclaiming the right. If a man had been
known to possess arms, I do not think that he
would for one moment have been allowed to
' disclaim.' The Heralds, acting under their Royal
Commissions, had and exercised sufficient powers
to compel a proper compliance with the regulations
laid down. The fees required by the Heralds for
registering the pedigree and arms did not amount
to much, and so that no injustice should be done in
the case of any gentleman who possessed arms by
lawful right, but who was yet too poor to pay the
small amount of fees demanded, these fees were ex-
cused him, and the record of the arms was duly made
without charge. This can be proved by reference
to several Visitations. Further, if any man desired
to record a pedigree and did not want arms, the
pedigree appears to have been recorded ; for one
instance, at any rate, I call to mind in a Visitation
of London where the Herald entered the pedigree
and added the laconic remark, ' He hath no arms
and standeth in contempt thereof Nor were the
Heralds hard in requiring the proof to be imme-
diately forthcoming, for many arms are entered as
exhibited and respited for further proof In some
case no further proof was ever made, and the arms
still stand in the Visitation Books as exhibited and

136 The Right to Bear Arms

' respited for further proof, but no proof made.' In
fact, the Heralds, considering the enormous powers
conferred upon them, seem to have strained every
point in favour of the claimant which they could
possibly do consistently with the due and proper
execution of their duties.

My experience has led me to this opinion, that
where nowadays we hear these glowing and gran-
diloquent accounts of arms on ancient monuments
and of long usage, which arms are not recorded in
the Visitations, the explanation can usually be found
by consulting the list of disclaimers. It stands to
reason that, if a family were then using the arms
of another family of the name with whom they
could show no relationship, or using arms which
were spurious, the Heralds had no alternative but
to disallow the arms precisely as would be done at
the present time ; and if the arms were wrong
then, usage for the two centuries which have since
elapsed has conferred no right whatsoever upon
those of the descendants who are still making use
of them.

The Herald, of course, entered the arms and
pedigrees which were submitted, confirmed, or
admitted, in a rough draft-book. When he re-
turned to London a fair copy was made, and the
pedigrees and arms were checked by the records
contained in the College. The whole was care-
fully corrected, and the corrected and authoritative

The Visitations 137

copy was delivered into the custody of the College
of Arms in conformity with the requirements of the
Royal Commission. In spite of many categorical
statements in print and elsewhere to the contrary,
these official records in their entirety remain in the
custody of the Corporation of the College of Arms,
which they have never left. Many of the rough
draft-books, however, are now elsewhere. The
officers who made them seem to have thought, and
probably rightly, that after the official, and exa-
mined, and corrected, and authentic copy was
duly lodged, the uncorrected, badly-written, ridicu-
lously-drawn rough draft became their personal
property. The College did not trouble about these
drafts, and many are now at the British Museum
and other libraries. But it is well to warn those
who think they are authentic that they are nothing
of the kind. They are crammed full of mistakes
and interpolations. Many of the latter are of
quite recent date. They have never been kept
under proper control, and in most cases it has been
open to every reader (who felt so inclined) to add
just whatsoever pleased him best, and instances
are known where not only isolated details, but even
entire pedigrees, have been mischievously added.

Some of the Visitations, more or less incorrectly,
some very incorrectly, have been printed and pub-
lished, but these printed Visitations have only been
taken from the incorrect copies and rough drafts

138 The Right to Bear Arms

and not from the official records. These published
books are not sufficiently correct for much reliance
to be placed upon them. A popular idea seems to
be that if a descent can be shown from anyone
whose names appear upon a Visitation pedigree,
the right to the arms recorded with that pedigree
follows as a matter of course.

Certainly it would, if the arms were undoubtedly
old and were then merely registered ; but in cases
where the arms were then put in order, only an
application at the Heralds' College will definitely
show how far this confirmation carried.

Another point with regard to the pedigrees
entered at the Visitations should be borne in mind,
and it is this. The pedigrees then entered, and
particularly those in the earlier Visitations, were
not complete pedigrees of the families, and were
not put forward as such. They were merely
sufficient of each pedigree to establish the right of
the claimant in question to the arms he bore.

Bearing in mind that the summoning was done
by the local officers, or else upon lists supplied by
local officials, who surely knew their own neigh-
bourhood, it may with safety be said that after the
third Visitation it is inconceivable that any large
land-owning or any arms-bearing family existing
during the whole period covered by the three
Visitations should have been omitted from each one
of the three, and it must not be forerotten that in

The Visitations 139

the comparatively few cases where the right to
arms must have undoubtedly existed by prescrip-
tion (which, I take it, meant use at or before the
date of the battle of Agincourt), such prescription
needed to have originated before the date of the
very first Visitation. Therefore it is a safe con-
clusion that after the end of the third Visitation
the whole of England had been swept clean, and
that every coat of arms continuously in use,
properly or improperly, during the period had been
by then either allowed or condemned. Since the
Visitations it has been absolutely impossible in
England to obtain, and utterly useless to put
forward, any prescriptive right to arms whatsoever.
Arms are good or they are bad as they are re-
corded or unrecorded. I have yet to learn of
any instance in England of an unrecorded and un-
disclaimed coat of arms in uninterrupted use to the
present day, which Jwnestly dates from before the
period of the Visitations.

That no further Visitation has since been made
is infinitely to be regretted. It is the saddest
thing one can find to chronicle in the history of
British armory. But the reason is not difficult to
understand. By the time the next Visitation
became due. His Majesty James II. was held to
have abdicated the throne, and William III., by
Act of Parliament and by the strength of his own
right arm, reigned in these Kingdoms three. The

140 The Right to Bear Arms

real strength and basis of his support were due in
the greater proportion to the middle and trading
classes.

The upper classes and the aristocracy, those
whom Visitations concerned, were to an appre-
ciable, if not to a large, extent in sympathy with
the exiled King. Many were still Catholics.
King William was by no means sure of his throne,
and hesitated to issue a Commission to be fulfilled
' in the name of the Crown ' with the drastic
powers of entry, confiscation, and defacement, which
the Heralds had enjoyed under the previous Com-
missions. Consequently the matter remained in
abeyance. George I. came to the throne by Act
of Parliament in due course, and the matter was
again broached. Recognising the value and need
for the Visitations, it was proposed that another
Commission should issue, without the whole of these
powers to which so many of the gentry objected.
The Heralds, however, were of the opinion that a
Visitation of this kind would be of little value.
Now, when (owing to the absence of what would
have been most valuable records) it is so evident
that anything would have been better than nothing,
one thinks that they were wrong in coming to such
a decision, but one can understand the manner in
which they looked at the matter. George I. was
anxious to conciliate the ancient gentry of his
realms, and thought it wiser to let the old powers

The Visitations 141

and authority lie dormant ; and Culloden and
Lord Derwentwater's rebellion amply showed that
the Hanoverian Kings were far from possessing
the loyal allegiance of many of the better-born
amongst their subjects.

But let it not for one moment be supposed that
the discontinuation of the Visitations meant that
the Crown abrogated its right or authority in
matters armorial. It did nothing of the kind ; and
pedigrees continued to be examined and recorded
as hitherto, when application was made — the
Crown issued its warrants to the Officers of Arms
— the Earls Marshal did the same — the Kings of
Arms continued to grant arms as they had done
theretofore. That the Crown's authority and pre-
rogative now exists and is still exercised, I have
already shown by the quotation of Royal Warrants
dating down to the reign of Queen Victoria.

CHAPTER VI

PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE AUTHORITY
OF THE CROWN AND COLLEGE OF ARMS AT
THE PRESENT DATE.

I HAVE not the shadow of a doubt but that
many of my readers will say or think : ' Oh,
but that's all ancient history ! nobody troubles
about the Crown or the College of Arms now ;
their laws and their day are all over and done
with.' They are not. Here are two facts, and my
critics can date them 1898 — not 1498 nor 1698,
but 1 898, — within a couple of years of the twentieth
century. When a man is about to be created a
baronet, he receives a notification from the Home
Office that, before his Patent can be signed or
sealed, he is required, by a Royal Warrant of
George HI., to prove that he is entitled to bear
arms by grant or inheritance, and also required
to record his pedigree at the College of Arms.
His right to bear arms will be judged, not by any
fancy formulae of his own, not by the peculiar ideas
of some heraldic writers who glibly plead and

Crown and College of Arms 143

advocate a kind of modern ' prescriptive ' right,
but by the rules and laws I have endeavoured to
explain in the foregoing pages. And his patent
as a baronet vi^ill date, and therefore his precedence
amongst baronets will rank, after the date of the
certificate issued from the College of Arms to the
Home Office that the arms and pedigree have been
proved and are on record. Here is another little
fact. On June the loth, in the year of grace 1898,
the case of Joicey-Cecil v. Joicey-Cecil was tried
in the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division,
before Mr Justice Kekewich. This case afforded
an amusing illustration of the mode in which a
coat of arms is supposed to be 'found' by
an ordinary seal engraver instead of through the
Heralds' College. The plaintiff in the case was
the wife of Lord John Pakenham Joicey-Cecil, and
is legal tenant for life in possession of the large
estates devised by the will of the late Colonel John
Joicey. The marriage took place in September
1896, the husband, then Lord John Pakenham
Cecil, thereupon assuming the name of 'Joicey-
Cecil.' The defendant, at present the only child
of the marriage, is the legal tenant in tail in
remainder to the estates. Colonel John Joicey
died in August 1881, having by his will devised
extensive estates in Northumberland to the use
of the plaintiff for life, for her separate use, with
remainder to the use of her first and other sons

144 The Right to Bear Arms

successively in tail. Then followed a 'name and
arms clause,' providing that every person who,
under the will, should become entitled as tenant
for life or in tail to the estates, 'and who shall
not then use and bear the surname and arms of
" Joicey," shall, within one year after he or she
shall so become entitled to the said estates, or
(being an infant) within one year after he or she
shall attain the age of twenty-one years, and also
every person whom any woman so becoming
entitled shall marry, shall, within one year after
such woman shall so become entitled or shall
marry, whichever event shall first happen, take
upon himself or herself . . . the surname of
"Joicey," together with his or her own family
surname, and quarter the arms of "Joicey" with
his or her own family arms, and within one year
apply to the Crown for a licence to use and bear
the said surname and arms of " Joicey." ' Then
followed a forfeiture clause on failure to comply
with the above conditions. The plaintiff and her
husband accordingly, shortly after their marriage,
obtained a Warrant from the Crown authorising
them to use the name of 'Joicey' in addition to
and before that of ' Cecil,' and also authorising the
husband to bear the arms of 'Joicey' quarterly
with his own family arms. But the Warrant (or
Royal Licence) contained the invariable clause
requiring it to be first recorded and the arms

Crown and College of Arms 145

exemplified in the College of Arms, otherwise
the Royal Licence to be void and of none
effect. Now the testator had been in the habit
of using a coat of arms and crest which appeared
in Burke's Armory (edition 1878) as belonging to
the families of ' Joyce,' ' Joice,' or ' Joys,' and in
a copy of that book in the possession of a
West-end seal engraver, the words 'Joicey omne
solum forti patria' were found written in manu-
script after the entry relating to the names ' Joyce,
Joice, or Joys ' thus : — ' Joyce, Joice, or Joys, Or
Three Torteaux in bend between two bendlets
gules. Crest, a demi chevalier in armour brandish-
ing a scymitar all ppr. Joicey omne solum forti
patria.' These arms and crest were not recorded
in the College of Arms as belonging to any family
of the name of 'Joyce' or 'Joice' or 'Joys,' but
they were recorded as belonging to a family named
' Ince,' in Lancashire. No person of the name of
'Joice' was, in fact, recorded in the College of
Arms as entitled to bear any arms at all. And
consequently the College of Arms point blank
refused, and rightly refused, to exemplify these
so-called arms of Joicey with the undoubted arms
of Cecil. Under these circumstances Lord John
Pakenham Joicey- Cecil applied to the College of
Arms for a grant of such arms as might be proper
to be borne by him and the plaintiff and their issue,
and one of the Heralds of Arms had prepared a pro-

K

146 The Right to Bear Arms

posed coat of arms to be quartered with the arms
of Cecil, and similar in some respects to the arms
used by the testator. In the meantime the
application, by special case, was made to the
Court for its opinion (i) whether the assumption
of the surname of 'Joicey' together with and
before that of ' Cecil ' was such a compliance with
the will as to avoid a forfeiture ; and (2) whether,
having regard to the fact that the arms borne by
the testator were not his own, but those of the

* Ince ' family, and had been wrongfully assumed
by him, and to the fact that there were no arms of
' Joicey ' at that time recorded in the College of
Arms, the condition as to quartering the arms of
'Joicey' contained in the will was incapable of
taking effect. The special case now came on for
hearing.

Mr Justice Kekewich held that the will in
terms authorised the use of the name of 'Joicey'

* together with ' the name of ' Cecil,' and that the
circumstance that it was used before instead of
after ' Cecil ' was immaterial ; also that the con-
dition as to quartering the arms of Joicey had,
under the circumstances, no operation and was
incapable of taking effect, inasmuch as the testator
had no right whatever to bear any arms. There-
fore the original condition was one which it was
impossible to comply with. The grant of the pro-
posed new coat of arms was therefore carried into

Crown and College of Arms 147

effect The case of Joicey-Cecil v. Joicey-Cecil
was tried June the loth, 1898. Does any one
require any further proof that, at the present day,
even the Common Law recognises the rightful
ownership of arms?

Upon the publication of the first edition of
this book, a review of it appeared in a periodi-
cal Literature, and this review was promptly
followed by a letter from a correspondent, who
attempted to discuss my book, when it was ap-
parent to any one that he could not have read it.
The chief of several statements he made was
the following : — ' In the first place there is no
necessity to prove a claim to Arms in order to use
them, it having been ruled in a Court of Law many
years ago, that any man has the right to adopt any
heraldic device he likes, and that after using it
for a certain time it becomes bond-fide his own.'

Now I absolutely deny in toto the right of an
ordinary law court to attempt to adjudicate upon
an armorial matter. Nor can I find that any case
has ever been tried which rested upon such a
jurisdiction. The point has certainly come up as a
side issue in some number of cases, but which it is
that the said correspondent referred to I am at a
loss to know, for no such ruling as that referred to
has ever been made. Perhaps, however, the corre-
spondent of Literature may be referring, as I have
found others do, to a certain case which had some

148 The Right to Bear Arms

little connection with the matter. And as this case
is so frequently alluded to, let us examine it. It is
referred to in an article on 'Trade-marks and Crests'
in the Herald and Genealogist^ vol. 3, 1866. But
it will be seen that the case had really nothing to
do with the right to arms or crest. It merely
amounted to whether a bogus crest was to out-
weigh a genuine trademark. Needless to say, the
judgment was that it could not. The case was
that of Standish v. Whitwell (March 1866) before
the Vice-Chancellor Sir William Page Wood.

The circumstances of the case were as follows : —
The plaintiffs, carrying on business under the title
of The Eagle Coal and Iron Company, at West
Bromwich, in Staffordshire, have for the last
twenty years used for their mark an eagle with
outspread wings, and their iron, which had acquired
considerable reputation, had been commonly
known as Eagle Iron. The defendants, Messrs
Whitwell & Co., being iron manufacturers at the
Thornaby Ironworks, Stockton-upon-Tees, about
May 1865, adopted an eagle with outspread wings,
similar to that of the plaintiffs, accompanied with
their initials, ' W. W. & Co.,' as a distinctive mark
for the better qualities of iron which they began to
manufacture.

On discovering the sale of this Eagle Iron at a
lower price than their own, the plaintiffs com-
plained of the infringement of their trademark ;

Crown and College of Arms 149

when the defendants stated that the Eagle was
their family crest, and that they had not been
aware that there was any Company already using
such a brand. In the correspondence that ensued,
the plaintiffs stated that after searching the
heraldry books, and the records of Heralds' College,
they had failed to find any such crest belonging to
the family of Whitwell. The defendants replied
that, 'whether registered at the Heralds' College
or not, the crest of an eagle had been used by their
family for thirty years, and, at least, two genera-
tions previously;' and they sent an impression
of the seal that exhibited it.

Such were the heraldic arguments on either side :
the plaintiffs believing or affecting to believe that
the allegation of a ' family crest ' was a fraudulent
pretence invented for the purposes of the action ;
and the defendants, who adhered to more meek and
pacific language, representing such a view of their
conduct as a harsh and unjustifiable imputation.

The Vice-Chancellor appears to have coincided
with the latter view, for, whilst he regarded a
decree for an injunction as a matter of course, he
reprobated the imputations of fraud, which the
legal advisers of the plaintiffs had in the first
instance advanced, and on that account disallowed
the plaintiffs the cost of their first affidavit, which
asserted this charge of fraud as to the use of the
crest by the defendants.

150 The Right to Bear Arms

The result from the heraldic point of view might
seem to be, that a trademark is a matter of much
greater sanctity in the eyes of the common law
than a crest, for the actual legality of the crest
as used by the defendants never came into the
question. The defendants merely pleaded that
they used the crest in good faith, and had done so
for thirty years. So that for the purposes of
the action the crest was accepted as legal, but
the case certainly cannot be held to have proved
that the Whitwell family had a lawful right
to an eagle for a crest. The contrary was the
result, for as a matter of fact the Whitwells at
once discontinued to use it. It simply is that the
gentleman's remedy does not lie in the Court of
Chancery, but whilst utterly denying the right of
an ordinary law court to adjudicate upon an
armorial matter, it will not be without interest, if,
for the sake of those who swear by the law courts,
I refer to a case which was tried in the year
1886. A certain Mary Anne Eliza Austen be-
queathed her property with certain remainders,
and the clause of the Will in question was as
follows : —

' Provided always and I hereby declare my Will
to be that every person who under or by virtue of
this my Will shall become entitled as tenant for
life or tenant in tail male or in tail to the actual
possession or to the receipt of the rents and profits

Crown and College of Arms 151

of the premises hereinbefore devised in strict settle-
ment and who shall not then use and bear the
surname and Arms of my late husband Major
Austen shall within one year after he shall so
become entitled or (being an infant) within one
year after he shall attain the age of twenty-one
years (unless in the said respective cases any such
person shall be prevented by death) take upon
himself and use in all deeds and writings which he
shall sign and upon all occasions the surname of
Austen together with his own family surname, and
also quarter the Arms of Austen with his own
family Arms and shall within the said one year
(unless prevented by death) apply for and en-
deavour to obtain a proper licence from the Crown
or take such other steps as may be requisite to
authorise him so to take use and bear the said
surname and Arms of Austen.'

Then followed an ordinary forfeiture clause.
Now, the said Major Austen had no right to the
arms he used, and consequently the College of
Arms declined to exemplify them to the devisee.

The question therefore arose whether the
plaintiff's failure to obtain the grant from the
Heralds' College operated as a forfeiture. The
case was tried on the 5th of May 1886, in the
High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, before
Mr Justice Chitty (Austen v. Collins). Judgment
was to the effect that the forfeiture did not operate

152 The Right to Bear A7'ms

on account of the devisee's failure to obtain the
grant on its being shown that he had made every
endeavour to comply with the terms of the direc-
tion. The case is important, but, like the Joicey-
Cecil case, to which I have already referred, the
judgment in itself merely upholds the College of
Arms in its definite refusal to recognise unauthor,^
ised arms, but the pith of the matter for those who
swear by the words of an ordinary judge, lay in
certain very crucial remarks of Mr Justice Chitty
in pronouncing judgment. These remarks are
omitted in the ordinary law reports, and I quote
them verbatim from the Times report* on the
following day as follows : —

' The rule, no doubt, was that for the purpose of
complying with the conditions of an ordinary name
and arms clause, a grant from the Heralds' College
must be obtained. There were divers statements
in the text-books to that effect, and those state-
ments had never been questioned. It was, more-
over, to be borne in mind that the law was that
a coat of arms descended as an estate of inherit-
ance (Comyns's Digest, sub lit. Court of Chivalry).
A man could not of hijnself create or grant an estate
of inheritance to himself It was, therefore, plain
that a mere vohmtary assumption of a coat of arms
was not enough, but that a properly authorised
grant— z>., a grant by the Heralds' College— was

* See Times, May 6th, 1886.

Crown and College of Arms 153

essential to a fair compliance with the condition of
an ordinary name and arms clause.'

I think I have now proved incontrovertibly
that in England from an early period — at least, as
far back as 141 8 — down to the present day, the
control of arms has been both theoretically and
in fact vested in the Sovereign. I have shown
the exercise and absolute continuity of that
authority ; I have shown how the Sovereign
in exceptional cases has reserved and still
exercises the prerogative to act direct ; I have
shown how the working, control and super-
vision has been and still is in England delegated
by the Sovereign to the Earl Marshal and
the Officers of Arms ; I have shown how by
grants and by the Visitations with the powers
of defacement and disclaimer this supervision
has been exercised.

By the due and proper recording of pedigrees
the proof of the right to bear arms can be estab-
lished and preserved for posterity and in per-
petuity.

The incontrovertible deductions and conclusions
from the foregoing are: (i) That to formally
establish the right to bear arms in England by
inheritance, legitimate male descent must hQ proved
to the satisfaction of the College of Arms ^ either from
some person to whom the right has been granted
by Patent, or from some person to whom the right

154 The Right to Bear Arms

was confirmed at the Visitations ; (2) that the
assumption and use of legal arms by a person
who is not included in the limitations recited
in the grant or confirmation thereof is theft ;
(3) that arms only originating from an unauthor-
ized source, or in the invention or imagination
of a man or of his ancestors, are illegal and void
of authority ; (4) that unless arms have been
sanctioned at some time or another by the Crown,
or its duly accredited Officers of Arms, they cannot
be and are not legal or valid.

CHAPTER VII

ARMORIAL LAW IN SCOTLAND

Let us now turn to Scotland.

Owing to a lack of records, it is difficult to trace
the continuity of the authority of the Crown to so
remote a period in Scotland as in England. I
don't think I can improve upon the form in which
the whole subject is discussed in the ' Ordinary of
Scottish Arms ' by Sir J. Balfour Paul, Lyon
King of Arms. I have no permission to repro-
duce so large an extract from Lyon's book, but I
trust I am not doing wrong in making the quota-
tion, which I do with all apologies, and thanks to
the writer for having so ably demonstrated the
facts of the case : —

' The earliest Scottish Armorial in existence is
said to have been prepared by or under the
superintendence of Sir David Lindsay of the
Mount about 1542. It is impossible to say
whether it took from the first an official character,
but that there must have been some such recog-
nised record before the close of the sixteenth
century is clear from several references which are

156 The Right to Bear Arms

made to the Liber insignioriim, or " Book of Arms,"
in the Acts of the Scottish Parliament at that
period. In 1592 an Act was passed authorizing
the Lyon and his Heralds to hold Visitations
throughout the realm in order to distinguish the
arms of the various noblemen and gentlemen, and
" thaireftir to matriculat thame in thair buikis and
registeris." It is unfortunate that this permission
to make Heraldic Visitations was never largely
taken advantage of; had it been, and had the
Registers indicated in the Act been properly kept,
it is unlikely that the Privy Council would have,
within the next forty years, practically authenti-
cated as an official record Sir David Lindsay's
MS. above referred to, which they did in the
following terms : —

" This Booke and Register of Armes, done by Sir
David Lindesay of the Month, Lyone King of
Armes, reg. Ja. 5, conteines 106 leaves, which
register was approvine be the Lordies of his
Majesties Most Honourable Privie Counsale at
Halierude hous 9 December 1630.

" Sir James Balfour, Lyone.
" Thomas Drysdale, Hay Herauld,
" Register r

' Whatever may have become of the official
Registers previous to the date of the commence-
ment of the present one, it is certain that many
collections of arms were from time to time made,

Ar7iiorial Law in Scotland 157

both by the Officers of Arms and others. Sir
Robert Forman, Lyon (15 5 5-1 567), presented to
Queen Mary a roll containing 267 Scottish coats
of arms. In addition to the " Workman MS."
now in the Lyon Office, at least four other
Armorials belonging to the sixteenth century, and
relating to Scotland, are in existence, and were
shown at the Heraldic Exhibition held at Edin-
burgh in 1 89 1, while the seventeenth-century
collections are comparatively numerous. As time
went on, however, the absence of an authentic and
official Register of Arms was more and more felt.
In 1639 the Committee on Articles appointed the
Lyon to do diligence for cognoscing and matricu-
lating all arms, and to represent the same to the
Privy Council, that they might take some course
to prevent arms being assumed irregularly. In
1662 it was apparently found that the registration
of arms was more neglected than ever, though
Cromwell had appointed one, if not two, Lyons
during his administration of the Government. By
an Act passed in that year it was provided, inter
alia, that "... Considering what disorders
and confusions have arisen and are dayly occa-
sioned by the usurpation of Cadents, who against
all rules assume to themselffs the armes of the
Cheeff house of the familie out of which they are
descendit, and that other mean persones who can
nowayes deryve thair succession from the families

158 The Right to Bear Arms

whose names they bear, as they have just assumed
the name, doe therafter weare the coat of that
name to which they pretend without any warrand
or grund whatsumever, ... no younger brother
or caudent of any familie presume to carie the
armes of that familie bot with sech distinctions as
shall be given by the Lyon King of Armes ; " and
it was likewise provided that all persons were to
have their arms examined and renewed by the
Lyon, and inserted in his Register. This Act,
however, did not remain long in the Statute-Book ;
considerable dissatisfaction appears to have been
created by it, possibly from the amount of the
fees which it entitled the Lyon to exact at the
funeral solemnities of the nobility and their wives,
and it was repealed in the following year, 1663.
It is not very clear whether the above-quoted
allusion to the Lyon Register can be taken as
implying that at that time there was such a record
in existence, or whether it merely means that a
Register was then to be commenced. But as the
present Register was certainly commenced within
the next ten years as new, it may fairly be inferred
that no official Register of Arms, with the excep-
tion of Sir David Lindsay's MS. mentioned above
as having been approved by the Privy Council,
was in existence at the period of the Restoration.
What had become of the old Registers, if such
there had been, has been a matter of some specula-

Armorial Law in Scotland 159

tion : both water and fire have been held to be
answerable for their destruction. It is by some
thought that they may have formed part of that
cargo of records originally carried off to London
by Cromwell, and ultimately jettisoned from the
frigate Eagle or lost with the ship Elizabeth of
Burntisland, when, owing to the representations of
the Scottish Parliament, they were being restored
to their proper home. On the other hand, Arnot,
in his " History of Edinburgh," mentions that the
Lyon Office Records were burnt in a fire which
took place about 1670, and that the Act under
which the present Register was instituted was in
consequence passed shortly afterAvards. As, how-
ever, there is no mention made of any such fire in
that Act, which merely alludes in general terms
to the many " irregularities of these late times," it
can hardly be regarded as authentic history, and
it is unnecessary to do more than allude to the
causes which have been thought likely to have
induced the Scottish Legislature to take the steps
they did for the formation of an entirely new
Register. It has been shown that an attempt had
already been made in 1662 to improve the Regis-
tration of Arms, but it had come to nothing. In
1672 the Parliament again addressed themselves
to the subject, and this time with success. They
had the advantage of a member who was himself
well acquainted with heraldry — Sir George Mac-

i6o The Right to Bear Arms

kenzie of Rosehaugh — and he not improbably took
a special interest in drawing the Act, which took
its place on the Statute-Book as the Act of 1672,
cap. 47. It ratified generally the Act of 1592 so
far as it related to Visitations and the penalties
to be inflicted on persons using arms without
authority, and it ordered all persons of whatsoever
degree, who were in the habit of using arms, to
give in a description of such arms and of their
lineage to the Lyon Clerk, in order that they
might be distinguished with " congruent differ-
ences," and that the Lyon might enter them in his
books and registers, and might grant arms to
" vertuous and well deserving persones." The
Register now instituted was to be considered as the
true and unrepealable rule of all arms and
bearings in Scotland, and was ordered to remain
in the Lyon Office as a public Register of the
kingdom for all time coming. All persons who
used arms after the expiration of a year and a
day from the passing of the Act rendered them-
selves liable to a fine of one hundred pounds,
and the goods on which the arms were engraved
were to be escheat to the King.'

The Act reads as follows. I quote it in full, as
it definitely confirms the important point that
cadets in Scotland are not entitled to bear the
undifferenced arms of the head of their family.
And to those who cavil at the personal authority

Ar^norial Law in Scotland i6i

of the Crown, it is wholesome to point out that in
Scotland, at any rate, the matter is governed by
common Parliament-made law, carrying, of course,
therewith the formal assent of the Crown.

* Copy of the Act concerning the Priviledges of
THE Office of Lyon King at Armes.

' Our Soveraigne Lord Considering, that albeit by
the 125 Act of the 12 Parlia* holden by his
Maiesties grandfather in the yeir 1592 the
usurpation of Armes by any of his Maiesties
leidges without the authority of Lyon King of
Armes is expresly discharged ; And that in
order thereto, Power and Comission is granted
to the Lyon King of Armes or his Deputes, to
visite the whole Armes of Noblemen, Barrons
and Gentlemen, & to matriculate the same in
their Registers, and to fine in One hundreth
pounds all others who shall unjustlie usurp
armes ; As also to Escheit all such goods and
geir as shall have unwarrantable Armes in-
graven on them. Yet amongst the many
irregularities of these late times, very many
have assumed to themselvis Armes, who should
bear none, and many of those who may in law
bear have assumed to themselvis ye Armes of
their chieff, without distinctions, or Armes
which were not carried by them or their pre-
dicessors. Therefor His Maiestie with advice
and consent of his Estates of Parlia* Ratifies
and Approves the foresaid Act of Parliament :
And for the more vigorous prosecution thereof
Doth hereby Statute and Ordain that lettirs of

L

1 62 The Right to Bear Arms

publication of this present Act be direct to be
execute at the mercat cross of the heid Burghs
of the Shires, Stewartries, BailHaries of Royalty
& Regallitie and Royal Burrowghs chargeing
all and sundry Prelates, Noblemen, Barons &
Gentlemen who make use of any Armes or
Signes armoriall within the space of one yeir
aftir the said publication, to bring or send ane
account of what Armes or Signes armoriall they
are accustomed to use ; and whither they be
descendants of any familie the Armes of which
familie they bear, and of what Brother of the
ffamilie they are descended ; With Testificats
from persones of Honour, Noblemen or Gentle-
men of qualitie anent the Verity of their having
and useing those Armes, and of their descent
as afoirsd, to be delivered either to the Clerk of
the Jurisdiction where the persones duells, or
to the Lyon Clerk at his office in Edinburgh,
at the option of the party, upon their receipts
gratis without paying any thing therefore :
Which Receipt shall be a sufficient exoneration
to them, from being obleidged to produce
again, to the effect that the Lyon King of
Armes may distinguish the sds Armes with
congruent differences, and may matriculat the
same in his Bookes & Registers, and may give
Armes to vertuous and well deserving Persones,
and Extracts of all Armes, expressing the
blasoning of the Arms undir his hand and seall
of office : For Which shall be payed to the
Lyon the soume of Tuentie merkes by Every
Prelate & Nobleman, and Ten Merks by Every
Knight & Baron, and five merkes by every other
persone bearing Armes, and noe more : And

Armorial Law in Scotland 163

his Mat'* hereby Dispenses with any penalties
that may arise be this or any proceiding Act
for bearing Armes, befor the Proclamation to
be issued hereupon. And it is Statute &
Ordained with consent forsd that the sd
Register shall be respected as the true and
unrepeallable rule of all Armes & Bearings in
Scotland to remain with the Lyons office as a
publict Register of the Kingdome, and to be
transmitted to his Successors in all tyme
comeing : And that whosoevir shall use any
other Armes any manner of way, aftir the
expireing of year & day from the date of the
Proclamation to be issued hereupon in maner
forsd shall pay One hundred pounds money
ioties qiLoties to the Lyon, and shall likewise
escheat to his Maiestie all the moveable Goods
& Geir upon which the fds Armes are engraven,
or otherwise represented. And his Maiestie
with consent forsd Declaires that it is onlie
allowed for Noblemen & Bishopes to subscrive
by their titles ; And that all others shall sub-
scrive their Christned names, or the initiall
letter thereof with there Sirnames, and may if
they please adject the designations of their
Lands, prefixing the word Of to the fds designa-
tions. And the Lyon King at Armes and his
Brethren are required to be carefull of informe-
ing themselvis of the contraveiners heirof, and
that they acquaint his Maiesties Councill there-
with, who are hereby impowered to punish
them as persones disobedient to and con-
traveiners of the Law. It is likewise hereby
Declaired that the Lyon and his Brethren
Heraulds are Judges in all such causes con-

164 The Right to Bear Arms

cerning the malversation of Messingers in their
office, and are to enjoy all other priviledges
belonging to their Office which are secured to
them by the Lawes of this Kingdome, and
according to former practice.'

Under a strict interpretation of the above Act,
this opportunity of * matriculation ' of ancient
Scottish Arms might well be held to have long
since lapsed. I am in no way speaking for Lyon,
nor do I wish to in any way hamper his discretion,
but I believe it to be correct, and consequently it
cannot be too widely known that the present Lyon
King is by no means averse, if satisfactory evidence
can be produced, to still exercise his prerogative
and discretion, and matriculate at the present date
arms which can be shown to have been authori-
tatively borne prior to the passing of the above
Act.

In Scotland, Lyon King of Arms still exercises
his power of restraining the improper assumption
of arms : the late ' Lyon ' caused a quantity of
unauthorised heraldry to be removed from the
windows of Glasgow Cathedral and from other
public buildings ; and quite recently the present
Lyon exercised a similar jurisdiction in the case
of a public building on which various coats of
arms were incorrectly displayed. Mr Grazebrook,
in his Heraldry of Worcestershire, p. 27, quotes
some delightful lines, published in Blackwood'^

Armorial Law in Scotland 165

Magazine in June 1865, on the subject of ' How
to make a Pedigree ' :

' But I'll give you here a hint

Your ambitious views to stint —
There's a limit that a wise man will not pass ;

You may safely vaunt and vapour

While it's only done on paper,
But you'd better keep from panel and from glass ;

For if there you lay a brush,

It may put you to the blush,
Should the Lyon at your 'scutcheon make a dash :

If your arms, so well devised,

Are not " duly authorized,"
All your quarters may some morning get a smash.'

When the writer in Blackwood penned these
lines, he evidently did not contemplate a time
when it would be no longer safe to 'vaunt and
vapour while it's only done on paper.'

The following is a copy of a typical ^Scottish
grant of Arms : —

' To all and sundry whom these presents do or
may concern. We, George Burnett, Esquire,
Doctor of Laws, Advocate, Lyon King of Arms,

send Greeting : Whereas, James S ,

residing at Banchory, in the county of Kincar-
dine, Esquire, Fellow of the Society of Anti-
quaries of London, hath by petition of date the
tenth day of July current, represented unto Us,
that he is the only surviving son of the late

William of Streatham, in the county of

Surrey, Esquire, formerly of the city of Aber-

66 The Rizht to Bear Arms

deen, Master of Arts, Fellow of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh, Royal Academician^
Honorary Royal Scottish Academician, Pro-
fessor of the Theory of Fine Arts in King's
College, London, and Inspector of Government

Schools of Design, by Jane Bickerton B ^

his wife, and grandson of the deceased William

, of Fonthill and Cuttlehill, both in the

county of Aberdeen, Esquire, Doctor of Medi-
cine, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
by Margaret Chalmers his wife ; and hath
prayed that We would grant Our Licence and
Authority to him and to his descendants, and
to the other descendants of his said grandfather,
to bear and use such ensigns armorial as may be
found suitable and according to the Laws of
Arms : Know ye, therefore, that We have
devised, and do by these presents assign, ratify,

and confirm to the said James S ,

Esquire, and to the descendants of his said
grandfather, with such congruent differences as
may hereafter be matriculated for them, the
following ensigns armorial, as depicted upon the
margin hereof, and matriculated of even date
with these presents in Our Public Register of
all Arms and Bearings in Scotland, viz.. Argent,
a cheveron embattled between three leopard's
faces sable. Above the shield is placed a helmet
befitting his degree, with a mantling gules
doubled argent, and on a wreath of his liveries
is set for crest, a lion rampant gardant sable
murally gorged argent, sustaining a flagstaff
proper, thereon hoisted a banner parted per
bend embattled or and gules, charged with a
leopard's face counterchanged, and in escrol

Armorial Law in Scotland 167

over the same this motto, " Decide and Dare."
In testimony whereof these presents are sub-
cribed by Us, and the Seal of Our office is ap-
pended hereunto, at Edinburgh, the twelfth
day of July, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and eighty-six.

' (Sd.) George Burnett, Lyon.'

But, unlike English Arms, the unaltered Scottish
coat descends only to the heir male of the family,
or (as a quartering) through heirs female being
heirs portioners. The younger sons and cadets
(though they naturally inherit the inherent gentility
of the original creation) have no right to bear the
arms until they have been re-matriculated to them-
selves in Lyon Register, and such marks of
cadency added as Lyon King of Arms may see
fit to require. The re-matriculated and differenced
coat then descends in like manner to the heir male
of the person matriculating : the cadets of that
branch are again each in their turn required to
re-matriculate. So that in Scotland to prove a
right to arms it must be shown that you are the
heir male amongst the descendants of a grantee of
arms or of one who has matriculated.

The following is an example of a Patent of
Matriculation, by which a cadet of an ancient
family had the arms of the head of that family
matriculated to himself with due marks of
cadency : —

[68 The Right to Bear Arms

Extract of Matriculation of the Arms of
Norman Hay Forbes, Esquire.

' Norman Hay Forbes, Esquire, Fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh,
residing at Drumminor, Tunbridge Wells, in
the county of Kent, having, by petition to the
Lord Lyon King of Arms, of date the thirtieth
day of November ultimo, represented that he is
the second son of the late Frederick Murray
Hay Forbes, born in the year 1830, Major
Bengal Staff Corps, by Honoria his wife,
married the second day of January 1858,
daughter of the Reverend William Knox
Marshall, Bachelor of Divinity and Prebendary
of Hereford ; that the said Frederick Murray
Hay Forbes was the second son of Robert
Forbes of the Honourable East India Com-
pany's Civil Service, Bengal, born on the first
day of June 1808 by Frances Dorothea his wife,
married on the twenty-sixth day of March
1828, second daughter of Thomas Law Hodges
of Hemsted Park, near Cranbrook, in the
county of Kent ; that the said Robert Forbes
was the sixth son of James Ochonchar, seven-
teenth Baron Forbes, by Elizabeth his wife,
daughter of William Hunter of Polmood, in
the county of Peebles ; that the Arms of
William, eleventh Lord Forbes, were recorded
in the Public Register of All Arms and
Bearings in Scotland, in or about the year
1672 ; and the said petitioner having prayed
that the said Arms might be matriculated of
new in the said Public Register in his own

Armorial Law in Scotland 169

name, with a suitable difference, the Lord
Lyon King of Arms, by interlocutor of this
date, granted Warrant and Bearings in Scot-
land in the name of the petitioner Norman
Hay Forbes, Esquire, Fellow of the Royal
College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the follow-
ing ensigns armorial, viz. : Azure three bears'
heads couped argent muzzled gules within a
bordure counter-company of the second and
first, charged with three crescents counter-
changed. Above the shield is placed a helmet
befitting his degree with a mantling azure
doubled argent, and upon a wreath of his
liveries is set for crest a stag's head -couped
proper, and in an escrol over the same this
motto, ' Grace me guide,' and in an escrol under
the shield is placed this motto, ' Lonach.'

* Matriculated the fifteenth day of December

1897.

' Extracted furth of the Pubhc Register of
All Arms and Bearings in Scotland.

* (Signed) J. W. Mitchell,

'Lyon Clerk.'

The following is another example : —

Extract of Matriculation of the Arms of
William John Home Mylne of Anwell Grove
IN THE County of Hertford, Esquire.

' William John Home Mylne of Anwell Grove, in
the county of Hertford, Esquire, of Queen's
College, Oxford, Master of Arts, at present re-
siding at Weston-Super-Mare, in the county of
Somerset, having by Petition to the Lyon King

170 The Right to Bear Arms

of Arms, of date the twenty-second day of June
current, represented that he is the second son
of the late Robert William Mylne, Esquire, of
An well Grove aforesaid, and Hannah, his wife,
daughter of the late George Scott, Esquire, of
Ravenscourt Park, Hammersmith, in the county
of Middlesex, in the Commission of the Peace
for the said county ; that the said Robert
William Mylne was grandson and representa-
tive of Robert Mylne, Esquire, of London,
Architect, whose Arms were matriculated in
the Public Register of all Arms and Bearings
in Scotland, on the eighth day of September
1767 ; and Mary, daughter of Robert Home,
his wife, which Robert Mylne was greatgrand-
son of Robert Mylne of Balfarge, his (then)
Majesty's Master Mason, whose Arms were also
matriculated in the said Public Register about
the year 1672 ; that in both these matricula-
tions the descent of the petitioner's family is set
forth from John Milne, Master Mason to King
James III., and the said Petitioner having
prayed that the said Arms might be matriculated
of new in his own name in the said Public
Register, with a suitable difference, the Lyon
King of Arms, by Interlocutor of this date,
granted warrant to the Lyon Clerk to matri-
culate of new in the Public Register of all Arms
and Bearings in Scotland, in the name of the
petitioner, William John Home Mylne, Esquire,
the following ensigns armorial, viz.. Or, a cross
moline azure quartered pierced of the field
between three mullets of the second, within a
bordure gules for difference. Above the shield
is placed a helmet befitting his degree with a

Armorial Law in Scotland 171

mantling azure doubled Or, and on a wreath of
his liveries is set for crest a pallas's head couped
at the shoulders, proper vested about the neck
vert, on the head a helmet azure beaver turned
up, and on top a pluniaish gules, and in an
escrol over the same this motto — " Tarn Arte
Quam Marte."

' Matriculated the 29th day of June 1891.

' Extracted furth of the Public Register of
all Arms and Bearings in Scotland.

' (Sd.) J. W. Mitchell,

'Lyon Clerk.'

It should be borne in mind that whilst a grant
in England carries to all descendants in the male
line, a grant in Scotland only descends to the heir
male for the time being, or as a quartering to heirs-
general being heirs-portioners.

CHAPTER VIII

ARMORIAL LAW IN IRELAND

I HAVE now shown how the Crown has asserted
its authority, and exercises its control concerning
armorial matters in England and in Scotland ;
there only remains Ireland to be dealt with. Theo-
retically, the laws of arms in Ireland are the same
as those of England ; but in Ireland, as in Scot-
land, the Earl Marshal exercises no jurisdiction,
and Ulster King of Arms has sole and supreme
authority under the Crown.

Although there was an officer with the title of
* Ireland King of Arms ' as early as the reign of
Richard II., and though, at least, three other
persons were so designated, it is extremely doubt-
ful whether they exercised any heraldic jurisdiction
in that country.

Certain is it that no trace can now be found of
any official act in Ireland by any such officer, and
the earliest assertion of the armorial authority of
the Crown in Ireland that I am aware of was the

Armorial Law in Ireland 173

appointment of the first Ulster King of Arms.
A copy of his Letters Patent will be found in
Rymer's Fcedera. The powers therein granted to
him have been confirmed and re-granted to each of
his successors in their separate Letters Patent ;
and in the face of these Letters Patent, and
bearing in mind the powers which have been
attached to such Letters Patent in England, and
also the fact that the Crown is, and must be, the
supreme and sole fountain of honour, there can be
no question as to the entire authority in Ireland o
Ulster King of Arms.

I annex a copy and a translation of the Letters
Patent I refer to, creating the first Ulster King of
Arms.

' De constituendo Regem Armorum & Principalem
Heraldum Hiberni^.*

' Rex omnibus ad quos, etc. Salutem.

' Sciatis quod, cum inter reliquos qui ad nostrae
Regias Majestatis Splendorum Ornatumq' spec-
tant OfficiarioSj non infimum ab antique inter
primse Classis Vires vindicant sibi locum
Heraldi, qui a Veteribus vocari Heroes soliti
sunt, quorum (scilicet) est Regum Lateribus
pre eerum Magnificentia & Gloria assistere,
Reipublicae consulere, Virtutes egregiaque Prin-
cipum Facinora, & amplissimos Triumphos
celebrare, fortia Virerum facta extellere Vitia

* Rymer's Fcedera^ vol. xv., pp. 305, 306 (Lon. 1713), Pat., 6-
E. VI., Pt. iv., mem. 2.

174 ^^^ Right to Bear Anns

exprehendere, & Armorum Curam suscipere,
deniq' Domi & Militiae Bonis omnibus usui esse.

* Nos Muneri huic tarn amplo OfEcioque
splendid© Virum alioquin industrium prseficere
cupientes,

' Perpendentesq' Fidelitatem, Rerum praxim
Prudentiam Probitatem ac Diligentiam dilecti
& fidelis servientis nostri Bartholomaei Butler
alias York, ac gratuitum acceptabile ejusdem
Bartholomaei Butler quotidianum & laude dig-
num servitium ac strenuam praecarissirao Patri
nostro Nobisq' antehac Operam impensam
habentes, Jure merito id poscente, ac caeteris aliis
Causis & Considerationibus Nos moventibus.

' De Gratia nostra speciali, ac ex certa Scientia
matura Deliberatione & mero Motu nostris,
eundem Bartholomaeum Butler alias Yorke in
Regem Armorum & Principalem Heraldum
totius Regni nostri Hiberniae ereximus fecimus
constituimus ordinavimus creavimus, Nomen
[Ulnester] ei imposuimus, & realiter coronavi-
mus, ac per Praesentes erigimus facimus consti-
tuimus ordinamus creamus, Nomen ei Ulnester
imponimus & realiter coronamus, ac Officium
illud, necnon Nomen Ulnester, Stilum Titulum
Dignitatem Libertatem Praeeminentiam Jura
Commoditates quaecumque, hujusmodi Officio
nunc & ab antiquo pertinentia dicto Bar-
tholomaeo Regi Armorum Ulnester damus &
concedimus per Praesentes,

' Habendum tenendum occupandum gauden-
dum & exercendum Officium illud, ac Nomen
Stilum Titulum Commoditates & Praeeminentias
praedictas eidem Commoditatibus & Emolumen-
tis quibuscumq' praedicto Officio qualitercumq'

Armoinal Law in Ireland 175

nunc & ab antique spectantibus debitis sive
pertinentibus,

' Dantes ulterius & per Tenorem Prsesentium,
concedentes eidem Ulnester Auctoritatem Po-
testatem Libertatem Facultatem & Licentiam
Clarorum Virorum Arma & Insignia inspiciendi
discernendi corrigendi & ratificandi,

' Necnon unicuiq' DifFerentias in eisdem
secundum Armorum Leges imponendi & ordin-
andi,

' Literasq' Patentes Armorum Claris Viris &
idoneis Personis donandi,

' Ac caetera omnia & singula quae dicto in-
cumbunt Officio Regis Armorum sive inesse
dinoscuntur in Jure vel ex Consuetudine tem-
poribus retroactis faciendi exercendi & exe-
quendi,

' Qui quidem Ulnester, ad hunc Statum voca-
tus. Nobis praesentibus, aliisq' Regibus Heraldis,
ac quamplurimus Magnatis & Fidedignis Regni
nostri Anglise praedicti, tunc coram Nobis
prsesentibus, & specialiter per Nos ad hoc
vocatis adhibitis & solempniter requisiti, super
Sancta Dei Evangelia solempne prsestitit Jura-
mentum,

' Dedimus insuper & concessimus, ac per
Praesentes damns & concedimus eidem Bar-
tholomaeo, a nobis in Regem Armorum &
Principalem Heraldum totius Regni nostri
Hibernise, ut praefertur, erecto, Quadraginta
Marcas bonae & legalis Monetae Angliae per
annum, aut tot & tantas Denariorum Hiberniae
Summas quae se extendant ad praedictum
Valorem Quadraginta Marcarum Anglias ratione
causa & excercitio ejusdem Officii pro Vadio &

176 The Right to Bear Arms

Feodo Officii prsedicti percipiendarum eidem
Bartholomaso singulis Annis durante Vita sua^
de Thesauro nostro ad Receptam Scaccarii
nostri Dublinensis, per manus Thesaurarii &
aliorum Officiariorum nostrorum ibidem pro
tempore existentium, ad Festa Paschas & Sancti
Michaelis Archangeli! sequis Portionibus annu-
atim solvendarum, una cum tali Liberatura &
Vestura, quali & in eisdem modo & forma prout
cseteri Reges Armorum & Principales Regni
nostri Anglise Heraldi habent seu habere debent.

' Habendas & percipiendas Liberaturam &
vesturam hujusmodi eidem Bartholomaeo annu-
atim, pro Termino Vitse suae, ad magnam
Garderobam nostram Angliae per Manus Cus-
todis ejusdem pro tempore existentis ;

* Eo quod expressa mentio etc. aliquo Statute,
etc.

'In cujus rei, etc.

' Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium primo
Die Junii [6 Edw. VI.]

' Per Breve de Privato Sigillo.'

Translation of the Letters Patent creating the
first Ulster King of Arms : —

' The King to all to whom, etc., Greeting. Know
ye that, whereas, among the other officers, who
appertain to the splendour and adornment of
our Royal Majesty, the Heralds, called Heroes
by the ancients, claim from of old a place
not the least among the men of the first
rank, whose duty it is to attend Kings for
their magnificence and glory, to take counsel

Armorial Law in Ireland 177

for the common weal, to celebrate the valour,
noble deeds and widespread triumphs of Princes,
to extol the brave doings and reprehend the
vices of men, to undertake the care of Arms,
and finally to be of service to all good men
both at home and in war.

' We, desiring to appoint to this lofty func-
tion and splendid office, a man in other respects
worthy,

' And weighing the faithfulness, experience
of affairs, prudence, probity, and diHgence of
our well-beloved and faithful servant Bartholo-
new Butler, otherwise York, and the gratui-
tous, acceptable, and praiseworthy daily labours
of the said Bartholomew Butler, and the zealous
service heretofore rendered to our father and
to us, according to the claims of right and
merit, and all the other causes and considera-
tions moving us thereto,

' Of our special grace, and of our certain
knowledge, mature deliberation and mere
motion, we have erected, made, constituted,
ordained, created and crowned the said Bar-
tholomew Butler, otherwise York, King of Arms
and Principal Herald of the whole of our King-
dom of Ireland, and given him the name of
Ulster, and by these presents do erect, make,
constitute, ordain, create, and actually crown
him such, and give him the said name of
Ulster, and by these presents give and grant
the name, style, title, dignity, liberty, pre-
eminence, rights and commodities whatsoever
to such office now and from of old time belong-
ing to the said Bartholomew, Ulster King of
Arms,

M

178 The Right to Bear Arms

'To have, hold, occupy, enjoy and exercise
that office and the name, style, title, commo-
dities and pre-eminences aforesaid to him, with
all profits and emoluments whatsoever to the
aforesaid office in any way now, and from of
old time, belonging, due or appertaining,

* Giving further, and by the tenor of these
presents, granting to the said Ulster, authority,
power, liberty, faculty and licence to inspect,
determine, correct and ratify the arms of
renowned men,

' And also to impose and ordain differences
in the same in accordance with the laws of
Arms,

' And to grant Letters Patent of Arms to
renowned men and suitable persons,

' And to do, exercise and discharge all other
things whatsoever which belong to the office of a
King of Arms, or are considered to be a part of
the same in right or by custom from times
gone by,

' Which the said Ulster, called to this rank, m
the presence of us and of other Kings Heralds,
and numerous magnates and liege subjects of
our Kingdom of England aforesaid, then present
before us, and for this purpose specially called,
summoned and solemnly cited by us, took a
solemn oath upon the Gospels.

'We moreover gave and granted, and by
these presents give and grant to the said
Bartholomew, erected by us, as aforesaid, to be
King of Arms and Principal Herald of the
whole of our Kingdom of Ireland, forty merks
of good and lawful money of England yearly,
or so much and so many sums of Irish money

Armorial Law in Ireland 179

as shall amount to the value aforesaid of forty
marks, by reason, cause and exercise of the
office aforesaid as wages and fee of the office
aforesaid, to be received by the said Bartholo-
mew every year during his life, out of our
treasure at the Receipt of our Exchequer in
Dublin by the hands of our Treasurer and
other officers there for the time being, to be
paid at the Feasts of Easter and St Michael the
Archangel in equal portions, together with
such livery and raiment as, and in the same
manner and form as, other Kings of Arms and
principal Heralds of our Kingdom of England,
have or ought to have,

' To have and receive the livery and raiment
aforesaid to the said Bartholomew yearly for
the term of his life, at our great Wardrobe of
England by the hands of the Keeper of the
same for the time being,

' Providing that express mention, etc., any
statute, etc.

' In witness whereof, etc.

'Witness the King at Westminster, the
first day of June. [6 Edw. VI.]

' By writ of Privy Seal.'

The following is an example of a typical Irish
Grant of Arms : —

* To all and singular to whom these presents shall
come, I, Sir Arthur Edward Vicars, F.S.A.,
Ulster King of Arms and Principal Herald of
all Ireland, Registrar and Knight Attendant of

i8o The Right to Bear Arms

the Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick, send
greeting : Whereas, application hath been
made unto me by

of in the county of

Down, one of Her Majesty's Most Honourable
Privy Council in Ireland, one of the Justices of
Peace and present High Sheriff of the county
of , also one of the Justices of the

Peace for the said county of Down and for the
city of Belfast,

setting forth that he is desirous that armorial
ensigns may be duly marshalled and assigned
unto him and his descendants by lawful
authority, and registered and recorded in the
office of Ulster King of Arms in Ireland, to the
end that the Officers of Arms there and all
others, upon occasion, may take full notice and
have knowledge thereof, and hath, therefore,
prayed that I would grant and assign unto him
and his descendants such armorial ensigns as
he and they may lawfully use and bear : Know
ye, therefore, that I, the said Ulster King of
Arms, having taken the request of the said
applicant into consideration, am pleased to
comply therewith, and by virtue of the power
unto me, given by Her Majesty's Royal Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called Ireland, and by the authority of the
same, have given and granted, and by these
presents do give, grant, and assign unto the
said

and his descendants the Arms following, that is
to sav : — Argent, a saltire gules between, in
chief and in base a bugle horn stringed sable,

Armorial Law in Ireland i8i

and in fess two sea-horses respecting one
another proper, for crest on a wreath of the
colours a falcon's head erased per saltire argent
and gules, and for motto, *' Deeds not Words,"
the whole, as is more clearly depicted in the
margin, to be borne and used hereafter by
him the said

and his descendants for ever, with their
due and proper differences, according to the
laws of Arms, without the let, hindrance,
molestation, or interruption of any person or
persons whatsoever. In witness whereof, I
have subscribed these presents and affixed
hereunto my Official Seal, this thirteenth day
of May in the sixty-first year of the reign
of our Sovereign Lady Victoria, by the Grace
of God of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the
Faith, and so forth, and in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and ninety-
eight.

' (Sd.) Arthur E. Vicars,

' Ulster King of Arms of All Ireland.'

But when we come to deal with the manner
in which armorial control has been exercised in
Ireland, it is impossible to speak with that cer-
tainty and precision that one can with regard to
England. Ireland has ever been in a troubled
state, and a certain proportion of her population
have always defied the rule of the 'Sassenach.'
Such defiance, of course, carries with it no authority
for the use of illegal arms, but it explains the some-

82 The Rwht to Bear Arms

what limited and haphazard and perfunctory manner
in which the English Crown asserted its control in
Ireland in any matter in former times ; for when
there were nobles and chiefs who defied and fought
in actual warfare for very regality and sovereignty,
the dictum of a Herald acting in the name of the
English King would have been considered of but
small moment in Ireland in ancient times ; and the
Irish official records of armorial matters are therefore
not so extensive by any means as could be wished.
In a series of articles which have been running for
some length of time in the Kilkenny Moderater,
under the heading of a ' Calendar of Documents
relating to Kilkenny,' by G. D. Burtchaell, M.A.,
M.R.I.A., F.R.S.A.I.,* the opportunity is taken to
enumerate the Records of Ulster's Office, and
incidentally to give a brief history of armorial
matters in Ireland. From one of these articles I
have drawn largely.

Bartholomew Butler, the first Ulster, died in the
year 1566, and the following year was succeeded
by Nicholas Narbon, Richmond Herald. Soon
after Narbon's appointment a new method for
preserving pedigrees by means of funeral certi-
ficates was adopted in England. Heraldry was
fast losing its strictly military importance, owing
to the gradual decay of the feudal system, together
with the adoption of altered weapons and

* Secretary to the present Ulster King of Arms.

Armorial Law in Ireland 183

methods of warfare. But it had become cus-
tomary to conduct funerals with a considerable
amount of heraldic pomp. The armorial bearings
of the deceased were depicted on escutcheons
attached to the bier, and in the case of those of
high rank upon banners and bannerolls borne by
friends and relatives of the dead. Hence the
Officers of Arms were required to attend at
funerals for the purpose of seeing that arms were
not improperly assumed by those who had no
right to them, as well as for the purpose of
marshalling the funeral procession. In England
funeral certificates were taken pursuant to the
' Orders to be obseruide and kept by the Officers
of Armes made by the highe and mighty Prince
Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, Erie Marischall of
Englande Ano. 1568, the xviii. day of July, yn
the Tenth yere of the Reigne of Queene Elizabeth,'
wherein it is ordained that ' Everie King of Armes,
heraulde, or pursuivante that shall serue at any
funerall . . . shall bring into the librari or Office
of Armes a trewe and certaine Certificate vnder
the hands of the Executors and Morners that shall
be present at the said funerall conteyninge the
daye of the deathe, the place of buriall of the
person deceased ; and also to whom he or she
married, what issewe they hade, what years they
were of at the tyme of the said buriall, and to whom
they were married, to the intent that the sayd

184 The Right to Bear Arms

certificate may be regestrede and do remayne as a
perpetuall recorde in the sayd office for ever.'

I have not alluded to these Funeral Certificates
in dealing with the College of Arms in England,
because in England, through the existence of other
and better records, funeral certificates have played no
very important part. But in Ireland, owing to the
absence of other armorial records, they form a most
important series of records. In that country, im-
mediately upon Narbon's appointment, the follow-
ing order was made by the Lord Deputy and Privy
Council for regulating the use of Arms and the
conduct of funerals : —

' H. Sidney.

* To all noble estates and gentle, as well sp'uall as
temporall, of what estate, degree or condition
soever they or any of them be, and to all maiors,
portriffs, baylififs, souraignes, sheriffs, constables,
and other officers, ministers, and subjects, greet-
ings : Forasmuch as Nicholas Narbon, otherwise
named Ulster, Principall Herald and Kinge of
Armes of this realme of Ireland, intenteth to re-
paire into all the pets of ye same to visite and
oversee the Armes, devises and conisances of
all nobles and gentlemen, and if any default be
found in any their coat armours, standards,
baners, pennons, or conisances or other token of
nobilitie and honnor contrarie to the laudable
usage of ye realme of England, he to reforme
the same in such due order as to the Lawe of
Armes doth appertaine, and to correct all false

Armorial Law in Ireland 185

armorie and all such as without his consent doe
psume to beare armes or signe of nobilitie, ex-
cept they be hneally descended of bloud and
name from such their anncestors as by the Lawe
of iVrmes they may of right beare and use.
Alsoe upon true certificatt to him made to re-
gister all the Armes, descents, and marriages of
all nobles and gentlemen of this realme of
Ireland, and alsoe to reforme all such as at
interments or funeralls use any other maners or
weare gownes, hoods, or tippets above their
estates or degrees, and all those that shall dis-
obey the same, to make answeare thereunto
before the High Marshall of Ireland, and alsoe
to see yt no paintor, graver, goldsmith, or any
other artificer doe sett forth or make or
devise any newe armes, or devise any con-
usance other than of antiquitie apptaineth
without the appointment of the said Vlster
King of Armes or his lawfuU deputie within
the said realme of Ireland. Wee, there-
fore, not onely will and require, but also com-
mand you, and every of you, that unto ye
Ulster King of Armes in the full execution of
that his office belongeth, and so by authoritie
to him given by ye Queen's Maiestie by her
Lres Pattents, as appeareth, that you doe give
and shew yor lawfuU ayde and assistance when
he shall require you, as you will answeare to ye
contrarie. Robert Weston, Cane, Adam Dub-
lin, R. Trimleston, Willm. Fz. Wm., John
Plunkett, R. Dillon, Ni. Bagenall, Frances
Agard, Tho. Cusacke.'
Under this order Narbon held twelve Visitations

1 86 The Right to Bear Ar7ns

in the course of the following six years. Unfor-
tunately the originals are lost, and only a portion
of those relating to the county and city of Dublin
and the surrounding counties remain. Those for
Cork and Limerick, which he is recorded to have
taken, are missing. Although there is no record
of a Visitation having been held for Kilkenny, there
are some grounds for supposing that there was.
Only half a dozen funeral certificates taken by
Narbon are known to exist, and they all relate
to persons belonging to Dublin. He held office for
over twenty years, and resigned in 1588. His
successor was Christopher Ussher, uncle to the
famous Archbishop. Hardly any of his official
acts are on record during the nine years he was in
office. On his death in July 1 597, he was succeeded
by Daniel Molyneux, who held office for thirty-five
years. He was an eminent antiquary, and has left
behind him several collections of historical notes
chiefly relating to the monastic establishments
in Ireland, besides notes of pedigrees of many
families. These are now among the MSS. in the
library of Trinity College, Dublin. During his
time he appears to have attended to the proper
discharge of the duties of his office. He held
Visitations for the city and county of Dublin, and
also for the county of Wexford. But the difficulties
he had to contend with through unauthorised per-
sons taking upon themselves to emblazon arms for

Armorial Law in Ireland 187

the nobility and gentry, as well as from the neglect
of funeral ceremonies, are shown by the following
letter from his Majesty, dated at Westminster 7th
April 1630.

' The King to Lord Viscount Falkland, Deputy
General.

'Right trusty and well-beloved cousin and
counsellor, we greet you well. Whereas, com-
plaints hath been exhibited to us by our well-
beloved servant, Daniel Molyneux, Ulster
King of Arms and Principal Herald of that our
realme of Ireland, of divers and sundry abuses
and disorders concerning arms and armoury
there, occasioned partly through the boldness
of some mechanical persons who presume to set
forth Arms for the nobility and gentry without
direction from him, being the proper officer
appointed to attend that service, and partly
through the nobility and gentry themselves,
who have of late, as we are informed, wholly,
in a manner, laid aside all funeral rights and
ceremonies ; we could not but take the same
into our princely consideration, as a matter
requiring speedy redress and reformation, as
well in regard of the nobility and gentry
themselves whom so deeply in honour it con-
cerneth, and whose houses cannot but in a
short time grow into many perplexities and
confused disorders in their Arms and pedigrees
if all use of Arms be laid aside at obsequies and
funerals, and no entry made of the day of their
decease, matches, and issues ; as likewise in
regard of our servant, a chief part of whose

The Right to Bear Arms

maintenance and livelihood ariseth from such
fees and perquisites as usually grow due at
funerals and obsequies of the nobility and
gentry, which doth the rather fall into our com-
sideration at this time when the several ranks
of nobility are increased in that our kingdom,
and a new dignity of baronet there settled, it
seemed a thing very disproportionate that our
civility and the number of noblemen of all
degrees being enlarged, and a new dignity of
honour being also added, that the King of
Arms or Herald, who is the officer of honour,
should not likewise increase in matter of respect
and profit, at least not to be in worse respect
and meaner state than before. Our pleasure is
therefore, and we do hereby require and
authorise you, that taking to your assistance
such of the nobility and of our Council there
as you shall think fit, you enter into considera-
tion and set down a course for redressing of the
aforenamed abuses, taking for your direction
therein an order or decree set forth in print by
the Commissioners of the Earl Marshal's office
for reforming of the like enormities in this our
kingdom of England, dated the loth day of
November in the sixteenth year of our late
dear father's reign, laying down some such
course and order for the redress of the former
enormities, and for the support of our Officers of
Arms there, as shall be thought fit and reason-
able to stand with the state and condition of
that our Kingdom, with proviso that he have
satisfaction for such funerals of the lords,
knights, and others of eminent place and quality
as of late have not made use of this office : which

Armorial Law in Ireland 189

course and order we require and authorize you
for the present, and all other our chief gover-
nor or governors of that our Realme to see
duly executed from time to time as occasion
shall be offered hereafter ; and for the better
preventing of many disorders and incon-
veniences for the time to come, and to the end
that the genealogies and pedigrees of the
nobility and gentry, for the furtherance and
advancing of our service as occasion shall be
offered hereafter, may be more ready and in
better order than heretofore they have been.
Our further pleasure is, and we do hereby
require and authorise you to see our servant
countenanced and furthered in the execution
of a Commission of Herald's Visitation through-
out the several places and quarters of that our
kingdom ; and if any whom it shall concern be
backward or refractory against the due execu-
tion of the forenamed Commission, our pleasure
is that you take special notice of them, hereby
requiring and authorising you to use such
means as in anywise they be made obedient to
this our command and pleasure to you signified
in that behalf.'

Richard St George resigned the office of Ulster
King of Arms in 1683, and Carney was appointed
to succeed him. The following year he was
knighted, being the first Ulster who received that
honour. He died 1692, and with him the practice
of entering funeral certificates almost entirely
ceased. This was chiefly owing to the custom of

iQO The Right to Bear Arms

using armorial ensigns at funerals being gradually
abandoned.

The fees payable to the Officer of Arms were
regulated by the rank of the deceased person, and
by the Officers of Arms being personally in
attendance at the funeral. The fee for a gentle-
man was £% which is the fee now fixed for
making a funeral entry in the Office of Arms.
When the arms of the deceased person are
entered, the right of his descendants to these
arms is established. When no arms are entered
it is presumed that the right to arms was not
proved.

The following are copies of two typical Funeral
Certificates now in Ulster's office. The original
of each is accompanied by a drawing of the Arms.

(i) ' Hugh Buye Magaghegan of Castletoune, in the
county of West-meath, deceased the loth of
June 1622. He had to wife Elenor, dr. of
Walter Tyrell of Clunmoyle, in the aforesaid
County, by whome he had issue — Arte, James,
Thomas, Richard, Rose, Neyle, Conly, Connell,
Mary, Margery, Elenor, Anne, & Elizabeth.'

(2) ' Bryan mac Dermott of Carrigg, in the county
of Roscoman, Esq''., eldest sonne of Bryan mac
Dermott, eldest sonne of Rory mac Dermott,
eldest sonne of Teige mac Dermott, eldest sonne
of Rory oge mac Dermott, eldest sonne of Rory
Keogh mac Dermott, tooke to wife Margarett,
daughter of Rickard Bourk of Derrymaclaghnye,

Armorial Law in Ireland 191

in the county of Galloway, Esq^, by whome
hee had issue, Tirlagh, alias Terence, eldest
Sonne & heire, whoe tooke to wife Margarett
daughter of Feagh Bourke mac Davye of
Downeoman, in the county of Galloway, Esq^,
Connor, second sonne, died without issue,
Charles, 3rd sonne, whoe tooke to wife EUinor,
daughter of William O'Molloy of Croghan, in
the county of Roscoman, Esquire, Bryan, 4th
sonne, as yett unmarried, a Captaine beyond
seas, Teige, fifth sonne, as yett unmarried, &
some other sonns that died young without
issue, Honora, eldest daughter, died young,
Mary, second daughter, married to Patrick
Plunkett, second sonne of James Plunkett,
eldest sonne of S'' Christopher Plunkett,
Margaret, 3rd daughter, married to Conn
O'Roirk of , in the county

of Letrim, gent., Vny, 4th daughter, as yett
unmarried, Honora, 5th daughter, alsoe as yett
unmarried. The said first mentioned Bryan
departed this mortall life at Athlone the 8th
of January 1636, and was interred in the Parish
Church of Clonemacknosie, in the county of
, being the proper buriall
place belonging to that Family. The truth of
the premisses is testified by the subscription of
Tirlagh, alias Terence m'Dermott, eldest sonne
and heire of the said Defunct, whoe hath re-
turned this certificate into my oflfice to be there
recorded. Taken by me, Thomas Preston, Esq'.,
Ulester King of Armes, this 17th of April 1637.
' Terence Mac Dermott.'

But owing to the absence of Irish records — not

192 The Right to Bear Arms

necessarily records which could be looked for in
Ulster's Office, but parish registers, for example —
it is exceptionally difficult to prove an Irish
pedigree, and thereby strictly and unquestionably
establish, in the manner required in England, a
right to arms.

But for a long time the difficulty arising from
faulty records has been remedied, and succeeding
Ulster Kings of Arms have had the power (and
have continually and continuously exercised it)
of confirming by patent arms which have been in
use, but for which usage no sufficient legal sanction
or authority can be shown. Whether or not the
required length of usage has always been the same
I am unable to say, but at the present time Ulster
King of Arms will issue a confirmation, under his
hand and seal, to any one within his jurisdiction,
of any arms in use when these can be shown to
have been continuously borne for at least three
generations, or else for at least one hundred
years. Ulster is the only King of Arms who
still has authority to issue a 'confirmation' of
previously unauthorised arms. But, of course,
he can only confirm those arms which come
within his Irish jurisdiction. Usually, some slight
alteration or addition is made to the coat of arms
and crest at the time of confirmation. The extent
and nature of this alteration are entirely within the
discretion of Ulster King of Arms, and vary

Armorial Law in Irelajid 193

according to the circumstances of the case ; but
I have known cases where the continuous use of
the arms has been proved back to the seventeenth
century, in which no alteration whatsoever has
been made. But, as I have said, the nature and
extent of the alterations rests with Ulster King of
Arms. A confirmation is equivalent in legality to
a grant ; and, like a grant, a confirmation recites
the limits within which the arms confirmed are to
descend. The limitations are usually to the
descendants of the father or grandfather, but
where proper and sufficient reason has been
shown, these limits have been extended on some
occasions in a very wide-reaching manner.

The following are copies of typical Irish Con-
firmations of Arms : —

'To all and singular to whom these presents
shall come, I, Arthur Edward Vicars, Esquire,
F.S.A., Ulster King of Arms and Principal
Herald of all Ireland, Knight Attendant on the
Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick, send
greeting: Whereas, John Joseph Greene,
Esquire, Bachelor of Arts and of Medicine of
the University of Dublin, Surgeon-Major Army
Medical Staff, eldest son of John Greene of
Clare Street, in the city of Dublin, deceased,
grandson of Godfrey Greene of Green mount,
in the county of Kilkenny, and great-grandson
of John Greene of Greenville, in the said
county of Kilkenny, Esquire, who was son of
John Greene of the same place, Esquire, hath

N

194 ^-^^ Right to Bear Arms

made application to me setting forth that his
immediate ancestor, Godfrey Greene, Esquire,
was granted the castle, town, and lands of
Ballynemony, ahas Mooretown Keating, and
other lands in the county of Tipperary, by
Letters Patent, bearing date the twenty-third
day of July in the thirtieth year of his late
Majesty King Charles II., and that the armorial
ensigns borne by the descendants of his said
ancestor, the last mentioned Godfrey Greene,
do not appear to have been recorded in this
office, and praying that I would ratify and
confirm the same with such distinction as may
be proper to be borne by him and his
descendants and the other descendants of his
aforesaid great-great-grandfather, John Greene
of Greenville, in the county of Kilkenny :
Know ye, therefore, that I, the said Ulster
King of Arms, having taken the request of
the said applicant into consideration, am pleased
to comply therewith, and, by virtue of the
power to me given by Her Majesty's Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Ireland, and by
authority of the same, by these presents do
ratify and confirm unto the said John Joseph
Greene, Esquire, and his descendants, and to
the other descendants of his said great-great-
grandfather the Arms following, viz. : — Vert,
three bucks trippant or, each gorged with a
ducal coronet gules ; crest issuant from a
ducal coronet gules, a buck's head or ; motto,
" Nee timeo nee sperno." The whole as is
more clearly depicted in the margint, to be
borne and used for ever hereafter by him, the
said John Joseph Greene, Esquire, and his

Armorial Law in Ireland 195

descendants and by the other descendants of
his aforesaid great - great - grandfather, John
Greene of Greenville, in the county of Kil-
kenny, Esquire, according to the Laws of Arms,
without the let, hindrance, molestation, or
interruption of any person or persons whatever.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed
my name this thirty-first day of December in
the fifty-seventh year of the reign of our
Sovereign Lady Victoria, by the Grace of God
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, and so
forth, and in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and ninety-three.

' (Signed) Arthur E. Vicars,
' Ulster King (Seal) of Arms of All Ireland.'

Here is another confirmation worded somewhat
dififerently : —

' To all and singular to whom these presents shall
come, I, Sir John Bernard Burke, C.B., LL.D.,
Ulster King of Arms and Principal Herald of
all Ireland, Knight Attendant on the Most
Illustrious Order of St Patrick, do hereby
certify and declare that the armorial bearings
above depicted, viz. :— Argent three bars gules,
on a canton of the second a mullet or ; crest,
a horse passant proper, charged on the shoulder
with a mullet or ; motto, " Fortiter et recte,"
are confirmed and do of right belong and
appertain unto James Franklin Fuller, F.S.A.,
descended from the family of Fuller of the
county of Kerry, being only son of Thomas

196 The Right to Bear Arms

Harnett Fuller, Esq. of Glashnacree, near
Kenmare, in the said county of Kerry, by his
wife Frances Diana (daughter of F. C. Bland,
Esq., D.L., of Derriquin Castle, by his wife
Lucurda Herbert), who is the son of Captain
Edward Fuller of Sackville and Beechmount,
also in Kerry, by his wife Elizabeth (daughter
of the Rev. John Blennerhassett by his wife
Louisa Goddard), who was the son of Thomas
Fuller, Esq., Treasurer of the County of Cork,
by his wife Ann (daughter of John Pincell,
Esq., by his wife Mary Leader of Mount
Leader), who was the son of William Fuller of
West Kerries, in the county of Kerry, by his
wife Jane (daughter of William Harnett of
Bally Neury, by his wife Miss Pellican of
Peloquin, a sister of the Rev. William Pellican,)
Rector of O'Brennan), and his descendants and
the other descendants of his aforesaid grand-
father, with their due and proper differences,
according to the laws of Arms, without the let,
hindrance, molestation, or interruption of any
person or persons whatsoever. In witness
whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name
this day of July in the thirty-eighth year of
the reign of our Sovereign Lady Victoria, by the
Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the
Faith, and so forth, and in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-four.

' (Signed) J. Bernard Burke,
' Ulster.'

Armorial Law in Ireland 197

The fees upon a confirmation amount to very
little ; and by the large number of confirmations
which have been issued, a result is being now
rapidly obtained in Ireland equivalent to the results
and records in England consequent upon the Visita-
tions. But it should be borne in mind that such
confirmations are concessions of grace, consequent
on the troublous times in former days in Ireland,
and cannot be construed into anything in the
nature of the admission of a right to bear (or at
any time to have borne) arms which lack the sanc-
tion of the Crown.

That this opportunity of confirmation exists in
Ireland for those within the jurisdiction of Ulster
King of Arms, I think cannot be too widely known
or taken advantage of, and it seems to me an intense
misfortune that the point is not officially brought
prominently before the notice of those members of
the Irish landed gentry who are still making use
of arms without authority ; for it must stand to
reason that at some future date the Crown will
recognise that it is then by such concessions, con-
firming the use of arms which have been originally
improperly assumed at such comparatively recent
dates, that no valid excuse whatsoever could pos-
sibly be alleged for this illegal assumption.

Irish arms descend, as do arms in England, to all
legitimate descendants in the male line. So that in
Ireland to prove a right to armorial bearings by

198 The Right to Bear Arms

inheritance it is necessary to show legitimate male
descent from a person admitted to have had a right
to arms or to whom the right was granted — (i) in
a Visitation ; (2) in a funeral certificate ; (3) in a
confirmation ; or (4) from a person to whom the
right has been granted in a specific Patent and
Grant of Arms,

There is no annual tax for the use of arms in
that country. Doubtless this is but ' another
injustice to Ireland.'

The fees upon Patents of Arms in every case,
England, Scotland, and Ireland, have been fixed
and decided by the Treasmy, and the Treasury j
absorbs the whole of the fees in Scotland and in
Ireland, and a portion of the fees in England.

CHAPTER IX

THE EIGHT TO BEAR ARMS

To those who would still maintain that a man
may invent arms for himself, I would point out
(i) that Henry V. decreed that arms borne without
authority were to be stripped off and broken up.
Charles (Brandon), Duke of Suffolk, Earl Marshal
(i 524-1 534), ordered 'that none shall enterprise to
beare anie signs or tokens of arms, etc., withoute
they be authorised so to do.' Henry VHI., Philip
and Mary, Elizabeth, Charles I. and Charles II.,
all in their Commissions commanding Visitations
to be made, and in other Warrants and Orders,
decreed that false arms were to be defaced ; the
Kings of Arms made those disclaim who would
not rectify their arms. Charles II. says of the
assumption of name and arms : — ' Neither of which
may regularly be done according to the law of
Armes without y speciall dispencacon and Licence
of us, as we are by Our Supream power and Pre-
rogative the only Fountain of Honour.' The Earl
Marshal's Court over and over again called people

200 The Right to Bear Arms

to book for illegal use of arms, the present Lyon
King of Arms has interfered to prevent the dis-
play of bogus arms on a public building, and the
ordinary Law Courts in 1898 set aside the con-
ditions of a will because the arms in question were
of no authority. And yet there are some who
' don't recognise the authority of the College' and
the Officers of Arms.

In all that I have written on the subject I have
never mentioned or criticised in the slightest
degree a person who has made neither use, pretence,
nor display of arms or title. My sole object in
writing here and in the Saturday Review has been
to induce the users of illegal arms to DROP them.
I am far from wishing the granting of arms — the
signs of gentility — to be extended to people who
in other matters make no pretence to the attributes
of gentility.

How in the face of all the foregoing facts there can
still remain those who refuse to recognise the autho-
rity of the Crown and College of Arms in armorial
matters passes my comprehension. That there
are such I am well aware, that many of these ought
to know better I am equally aware, and that there
are those who, knowing the whole of the foregoing
facts, still advocate a kind of help-yourselves-to-any-
Arms-and-Crests-you-fancy sort of policy I am
also aware. But until the laws are altered. Arms
are, and will remain, matters of honour in the pre-

The Rizht to Bear Arms 201

rogative of the Crown to grant and create, and it is
almost as much a matter of certainty that as long
as a sovereign exists within the Empire the
authority in England will continue to be delegated
to the Earl Marshal and the Officers of the College
of Arms.

Briefly, then, to sum up : to formally establish
the right to bear arms in England it is necessary
to prove to the satisfaction of the College of Arms
legitimate male descent from some person to
whom a grant of arms has been made, or from
some person to whom arms were confirmed at the
Visitations. In Ireland the same, or else from
some person whose right to arms has been
officially admitted, or to whose descendants arms
have been confirmed. Failing this, there is no
alternative if you desire to use arms, but to obtain
a grant of arms yourself, or, if you be under the
jurisdiction of Ulster King of Arms, and can pro-
duce the necessary evidence, a confirmation. In
Scotland, if you are the heir male of a grantee, or
of any one to whom arms have been matriculated,
you are entitled to bear these arms ; if you can
only establish a junior descent, you must have
the arms matriculated to yourself, even if it be
your father who was the grantee ; if you cannot
show any such descent, you must petition for a
grant.

If you cannot prove a right to arms, and if you

202 The Right to Bear Arms

cannot afford or are not in a sufficient position to
obtain a grant, then do refrain at least from using
unauthorised arms.

To those who profess an entire contempt for
heraldry, in all sincerity I offer one word of advice.
Such a standpoint is quite justifiable — it is almost
understandable. Do have the courage of your
own opinions, and leave Arms and Crests alone —
use none, — and SEE THAT YOUR wife does the

SAME.

^

CHAPTER X

FOREIGN ARMS

Perhaps it may be desirable to add a few notes
concerning the status of foreign arms in England.

A foreigner coming into this country is amen-
able to the laws of honour of his own country
and the authorities controlling them in that
country so long as he retains his original natio7iality.
Those foreign laws and the laws of armorial
registration and control vary considerably, but
there is one fundamental rule which is now, and
has been for some centuries, admitted practically
from one end of Europe to the other. With
countries outside Europe one need not trouble.
American heraldry is beneath notice (I do not
refer to the armory of American scions of English
gentle families) ; and the barbaric totemism of
semi- civilised countries, though perhaps the origin
of our own heraldry is hardly sufficiently evolved
to be considered as armory. The one fundamental
European rule is this — that arms are a matter of

204 The Right to Bear Arms

honour, and that the conferring of honour and
honours is a prerogative of sovereignty.*

All European countries recognise the sovereign
acts of every other de facto European sovereign,
so long as these acts are constitutional acts,
according to the constitutional law of the country
over which each particular sovereign reigns.
Now every de facto sovereign can grant arms to
his own subjects. No sovereign can lawfully grant
arms to another sovereign's subjects. Arms and
titles are precisely identical, and it requires the
consent or definite documentary recognition of the
sovereign of the grantee to render lawful and
valid a grant of either arms or title from a foreign
sovereign. In England this is conveyed by
means of what we know as a royal licence. The
formalities are somewhat the same in Germany,
which, after our own, is probably the country the
most carefully controlled. These royal licences
are but very rarely granted in England ; but two
or three cases of arms come to my mind — e.g.^
Thornton, which was a grant of an augmentation
of arms and a title by the King of Portugal
to an actual English subject. For the same
reason no grant of arms can be made by the
English College of Arms to an American citizen.

The universal sovereignty of the Pope is ad-
mitted in some countries, and consequently arms

* I except the Republics of Switzerland and Venice.

Foreign Arms 205

and titles granted by the Pope are recognised in
Spain and Italy, and perhaps in other countries.
They are also recognised by the present French
administration. No Papal grant has been officially
recognised in this country, that I am aware of,
since the Reformation.

A sovereign grants arms to a man and his
descendants, and, unless that grant be revoked
(which can only be done in England by attainder)
the right remains for ever, and cannot be disputed
(after proof of descent) in the country in which
the arms originated. But no sovereign can be
compelled to recognise in his own country honours
conferred by another sovereign, beyond the re-
cognition that courtesy demands should be ex-
tended to a foreigner and a foreign subject whose
credentials are in order. Directly the nationality
is changed and the status of foreigner is at an end,
that courtesy of necessity also comes to an end,
for as an English subject an immigrant becomes
entirely amenable to English law, and the English
law recognises no arms as legal in this country or
for English subjects save those recorded in the
official College and Offices of Arms.

The procedure for the registration of foreign
arms in this country is as follows : A certificate is
obtained that, prior to becoming an English subject,
the person in question, in the country from which
he came, was entitled to bear certain arms. This

2o6 The Right to Bear Arms

certificate must issue from the Government de-
partment (of the country of origin) which has the
control of such matters. I believe I am correct in
saying that there is now some Government de-
partment having proper control in almost every
European country. It is essential that the certifi-
cate should issue from the Government department,
and it has to be countersigned by the English
ambassador or minister resident in the country of
origin, which I take it is the guarantee that the
certificate is official and has been lawfully issued.
This certificate is then taken to the College of
Arms and recorded there. I am not positive
regarding all the formalities of the operation,
but the arms are not altered in any way, their
legality is fully admitted, and will never afterwards
be questioned. After their registration they will
be treated as an English coat of arms subject to
English heraldic law. I have often been flatly
contradicted on this point of registration, and
informed it is never done, and that such certificates
are never issued. It is done constantly. The
supporters granted in Germany to Baron Roths-'
child, even (namely, Dexter, a lion or, and sinister,
a unicorn argent), were afterwards, when the
need arose, registered in England without question,
though I do not for one moment believe or suppose
that any Englishman would ever have been allowed
to obtain such a grant.

Foreign Arms 207

A great many people emphatically assert that
the English College of Arms insist on regranting
or else confirming all foreign arms. Both state-
ments are incorrect. The College, nowadays,
never ' confirm ' any arms at all. If a proper
certificate is produced, the arms are ' recorded,' and
are neither altered, regranted, nor confirmed. If
no certificate is forthcoming, the presumption is
that the applicant has no arms at all, and arms
are then granted in the ordinary way.

The descendant of a foreigner cannot be said to
lawfully possess in this country a legal right to
arms unless they are officially recorded. Failing
such a certificate as I describe, his right to arms
would not be admitted (for example, if creation as
a baronet compelled him to prove his right), but at
the same time one would hesitate to describe the
arms as ' bogus ' or ' spurious.' I myself should
call them ' foreign,' and mentally class them with
'foreign' titles.

At the same time I would warn any who are
interested in the point, that the proportion of the
so-called ' foreign ' arms in use in this country
which are spurious, or which are rank and im-
pudent assumptions, is as great as, if not greater
than, the proportion in the case of purely English
arms.

CHAPTER XI

POPULAR FALLACIES

Now, if it were possible to treat of Armorial
Bearings, and at the same time to refrain from
mentioning the College of Arms, I should do
so ; but it is not. If arms are admitted to
have any attributes whatsoever, it is necessary to
consider what they really are, whence they
originate, and by what laws they are governed.
But the moment one mentions the College, for
some reason which I am at a loss to understand,
there is a prompt outbreak of correspondence in
the Press, violently abusing the College and its
officers, individually or collectively, past or present.
In 99 cases out of every loo, the letters emanate
from would-be armigerous persons whose claims to
the arms they have assumed have, after investiga-
tion at the College of Arms, been rejected on the
score of their not being descended from the grantee.
If these letters were written with a full knowledge
of the whole bearings of the case in question, and
of the laws and regulations of the science of

Popular Fallacies 209

armory, of the Crown, and of the Earl Marshal, no
one could complain, but they are always incorrect
deductions from cases of personal grievance gener-
alised into vague but sweeping complaints of the
whole College, and equally sweeping generalisa-
tions on the laws of armory. If any person thinks
he himself has a personal grievance against any
Officer of Arms in his public capacity, why on earth
doesn't he complain to the Earl Marshal? An
offending officer would be promptly required to
explain by the Earl Marshal, if he had not properly
fulfilled his duties and obligations as a servant of
the Crown. Instead of pursuing this obvious
method, the grumblers, probably knowing at heart
that they have no real ground of complaint, write a
very garbled version of their grievances to the papers.
It is no part of the duties of the Officers of
Arms to conduct correspondence in the news-
papers, and it has grown into a kind of etiquette
at the College that none of its officers shall take
part in a newspaper war. The result is that most
people believe the College of Arms to only exist
' on sufferance,' and by a policy of lying low.' No
office, dignity, or privilege is held in this country
by more potent right, if Letters Patent or Royal
Warrants or Charters of Incorporation have any
meaning or any effect, and yet there are some
persons who ' don't recognise the authority of the
College.'

O

2IO The Right to Bear Arms

So that for the sake of the mistaken ones, who,
for one reason or another, write to uphold the use
of spurious and illegal arms, I propose to shortly
recapitulate some of the most prominent objections
which I recollect to have seen put forward, and
the reasons of their non-avail. With many,
silence carries assent ; consequently when no reply
emanates from an Officer of Arms to a newspaper
accusation, the public accepts the accusation as
* found proved.' The accusations are simply made
through lack of knowledge of the true facts.

In the first place, book after book, and so-called
authority after authority, are quoted in support of
this or that contention. There is no single printed
book whatsoever which is official or authoritative.
The laws of arms have never been codified, and they
exist, not in the manuals or handbooks of heraldry,
which are nearly all of them hopelessly wrong,
but in the laws and precedents which have to be
searched for, but which can be found amongst the
records of the College, and which are well known
by the Officers of Arms. Consequently it is no
good trusting to printed books. Many people seem
to think that books published under the names of
Officers of Arms must be official. They are
nothing of the kind, and no single one that I know
of has ever been put forward by its author as of
that character, not even the publications of the late
Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms. The

Popular Fallacies 2 1 1

only book which possesses anything like an official
character is the ' Ordinary of Scottish Arms,' by
the present Lyon King of Arms, from the intro-
duction to which I have quoted. Though its
accuracy renders it worthy of being accepted as
official, it was not, however, published by the
Government or as a Government publication.

I have already dealt with arms which it has
been claimed were omitted at the Visitations,
though then borne by right. Personally I don't
believe such a case exists, and I cannot learn of
any such case having been ever proved before the
Chapter of the College. So that neither I nor any-
one else quite know what would happen if such a
case by any chance were proved.

In nearly every newspaper correspondence upon
the subject of armory, somebody or other states
that part of the records of the College are missing,
or are faulty, and that there are many genuine
grants which have been issued of which no record
has been kept. How this idea originated I am at
a loss to imagine, for I question if there is in
Europe any set of records more perfect and of
equal age. But if by any chance any genuine
grant of arms were to turn up which was not
registered at the College, the validity of it would
not be disputed by the College, and those arms
would be allowed to any descendant in the male
line of the grantee ; he would not be required to

212 The Right to Bear Arms

obtain a new grant of them ; but if no grant of
them can be produced, and when no official record
of such a grant exists, the natural presumption is
that the arms never were granted. Does any one
for one moment think that the House of Lords
would allow a peerage of which there was no
patent of creation, no writ to which it could be
assigned, and no record amongst the records of the
House of Lords that such a peerage had been en-
joyed? The House of Lords does not presume
that its records and officers are at fault merely
because a certain family have assumed a titular
distinction of which there is no proper record. In
the same way, it is rather absurd to presume that
the Heralds' College should be wrong because
they possess no record of arms borne by a certain
family, which family can produce no official evi-
dence whatever of their authenticity. But the
most universal of all objections taken to the
College of Arms or to its Officers has degenerated
into the sneer concerning a payment of fees, and
many people in their innocence prefer a bogus coat
of arms concerning which no fee has been paid
to the Crown, to a legal coat which they are
pleased to stigmatise as a ' bought ' one.

Surely a little reflection must dissipate such an
idea. A grant of arms, though doubtless of a
greatly lesser value, is technically a patent of gen-
tility in precisely the same manner as the letters

Popular Fallacies 213

patent creating a peerage constitute a patent of what
we here in England commonly and colloquially call
nobility. Each of them is issued signed, not by
the Sovereign, but by the officers of the Sovereign
whom the Sovereign has delegated to attend to
such matters. Each of them are letters patent
signifying the will and pleasure of the Sovereign
to all and singular whom they may concern.
Each of them grants a definite honour. Each of
them distinctly recites the limits within which this
honour is to devolve.

But every Peerage patent that is issued carries
with it the obligation of certain fees which are
required to be paid to the public exchequer, and
various other payments which the Crown requires
to have made to those of its servants who are con-
cerned in the preparation and passing of the patent.
Surely the Crown has a right to say in what manner
its servants shall obtain their remuneration for the
due and proper fulfilment of their duties to the
Crown, whether actually upon the patent in
question or not. Every Peerage title created by
letters patent has involved the payment of these
fees by somebody. They are the reimbursement
of the Crown of the cost to the Crown in pre-
paring and issuing and creating and controlling
titles and their necessary letters patent. Lord
Wolseley is the only instance of a peer who has
objected to pay these fees that I, or I fancy any-

214 The Right to Bear Arms

one else, have ever heard of. Even he paid them
(though under protest), because the Crown insisted
that he should.

When a Patent of Arms is applied for, certain
fees are payable : objection is sometimes taken to
their payment, and a coat of arms granted by
patent gets stigmatised as a 'bought' one in
consequence of the necessity of this payment
But the cases of a Patent of Arms and a Patent
of Peerage are identically the same, inasmuch as
on the issue of either patent certain fees are
required to be paid. These fees upon a Patent
of Arms, as in the case of a Patent of Peerage,
are merely the reimbursement of the Crown of
the cost to the Crown of granting this honour
of gentility and of the concession of arms to
the applicant. The Crown considers it necessary
that its College of Arms shall be maintained for
the due and proper registration and control of
Armorial Bearings, and if the Crown chooses that
the remuneration of its officers for the work and
duties which the Crown requires them to perform
shall be made out of a portion of the fees paid upon
grants of arms, that is the concern of the Crown
and not of the applicant for its grace and con-
cession. That my contention is theoretically and
absolutely correct can easily be proved by reference
to the revenue of the Lyon Office in Scotland.

In Scotland the Crown appoints certain officers

Popular Fallacies 215

to do its work, and now pays them what it con-
siders to be adequate salaries for the due per-
formance of their duties. The natural consequence
is that the whole of the fees paid upon grants or
matriculations [with the exception of the actual
payments made to the handicraftsmen who paint
and engross the patents], are paid either in the
form of stamp-duty directly to the revenue of the
Crown, or are handed over by the Lyon Office to
H.M. Exchequer. What are known as the ' fees
of honour ' of a Scottish Herald, formerly a portion
of his remuneration, which are collected by virtue
of various Royal Warrants, are now paid into the
Treasury. When the point was raised in the House
of Commons some little time ago, it was shown that
the salaries and expenses of Lyon Office were
practically equivalent to the amount received in the
stamp-duty upon the patents, so that it is self-
evident and incontrovertibly evident that in Scot-
land, at any rate, the fees paid upon patents of
arms are merely the reimbursement to the Crown
of the cost to the Crown of issuing and regulating
these concessions and grants of arms. Were a
similar system adopted in England it would be
similarly evident that the same identical contention
would hold good ; and the mere fact that instead
of receiving adequate salaries from the Treasury
the officers of the College of Arms are remuner-
ated by a proportion of their fees, merely ensures

2i6 The Right to Bear Arms

that those officers who do any particular piece of
work shall obtain the payment for doing it.

It is a popular idea that an appointment in the
Heralds' College is a sure and easy way to wealth.
This is far from being the case. The salary of a
Pursuivant is about thirteen pounds, and of a Herald
about sixteen pounds a year. For this they have
many duties to perform for which these sums are a
ridiculously small recompense, and the Crown has
decided that the remainder of their remuneration
shall come from a proportion of the fees paid on
patents of arms.

Though it has really nothing whatever to do
with the public, I may perhaps here say that by
far the larger proportion of the incomes of the
Heralds and Pursuivants is not due to any salary
or proportion of fees (which together amount to
comparatively little), but comes from an entirely
different source.

It is no part of a Herald's official duties to the
Crown to work out a pedigree or collect genea-
logical evidences. This work might be performed
outside the College, and there is nothing to pre-
vent this beyond the fact that it would seldom be
done half so well by an outsider. It is from this
unofficial work that the Officers of Arms derive the
greater part of their incomes, and when all is said
and done, the sums total of these incomes fall far
short of what many a man in another calling in

Popular Fallacies 217

life, but in a similar social position, would expect
with the experience, training, knowledge and
education necessary, and in consideration of the
labour involved.

Consequently, if a coat of arms granted by
patent is to be stigmatised as ' bought ' from the
Crown, then of a surety every Peerage granted by
patent is equally ' bought,' and it should be borne
in mind that with the exception of the very few
ancient coats of arms allowed on sufficient proof
as existing by right at the Visitations, every single
coat of arms of legal authority has been ' bought '
or paid for at some time or another. A payment
made two hundred and fifty years ago is liable to
be ignored or forgotten, but the fact that the
payment was made even so long ago places an
ancient coat of arms upon an identical footing
with a modern one as far as the question of pur-
chase is concerned.

A spurious coat of arms upon which no pay-
ment has been made is in precisely the same
position as a bogus baronetcy, and is equally open
to criticism. So that if modern arms are to be
stigmatised as * bought,' the same remark must
apply to ninety-nine out of every hundred of the
coats of arms, ancient or modern, now legally in
use, and to every Peerage created by patent.

If a family whose origin is plebeian desire to
legally acquire gentility, a start must be made at

2i8 The Right to Bear Arms

some time. Consequently we see men nowadays,
and not necessarily very wealthy men, but men
claiming to live according to the habits and customs
of gentle people, who ' honestly acquire, and pay
the fees upon, a grant of arms which " they and their
posteritie " can " have, occupie, and injoye " as their
own and their children's : they have not robbed
anyone, or stolen it with secrecy, after choosing
the prettiest coat ; there is no occasion for shame,
or the fear of being found out. No ! The consti-
tuted authority has granted and confirmed it, and
recorded their names in the indelible Book of
Chivalry. The first step has been honestly taken
in planting the family tree.'

Another frequent newspaper objection is that
the Officers of Arms, when it has been necessary to
obtain a new grant of arms, require too great an
alteration to be made in the design which has been
hitherto illegally in use. Now no two coats of
arms which may be granted are ever allowed to
interfere one with another. Each new grant must
be sufficiently different and distinct for anyone
versed in armory to be able to recognise the
difference. It is outrageous to suppose that a
family of no ancestry (merely because for a certain
short length of time they have made improper use
of a purloined coat of arms) shall be allowed to
obtain a grant the design of which might encroach
upon and infringe the duly recorded and granted
rights of some other family.

Popular Fallacies 219

Those who make the loudest objection on this
point are usually those for whom really the very
least consideration is due. They are always those
who know little of armory and its laws, who know
less of the Heralds' College and its laws, and still
less of the thousands of genuine Armorial Bearings
properly recorded with which their own ideas are
bound to clash.

On the other hand, there are those who seem to
consider that they and their families have vested
interests in certain and particular charges. It is
hopeless to attempt to argue with such people,
and I fail to see what cause of annoyance or
ground for complaint can exist when the altera-
tions are sufficient in number and prominence to
prevent anyone with a knowledge of armory mis-
taking the one coat for the other. There are some
people who could hardly tell the difference between
the Royal Arms and, say, the Arms of the City of
London. It is no crime to be ignorant of
Heraldry. But at the same time it is hopeless to
attempt to always introduce sufficient variance to
be recognised by a person of this class. Those
who have no personal interest in these two con-
tentions, and have no argumentative axe to grind,
I fancy are ready enough to admit that between
these two schools of complainants the Heralds'
College hold the balance very fairly.

Still yet another class contend, and one notori-

2 20 The Right to Bear Arms

ous newspaper correspondent contends somewhat
viciously, that failing a direct proof of descent no
new coat of arms should be granted in any way
resembling the legitimate arms of any other
family of the name. This is an academic point
capable of much argument on either side, but at
the same time it should be borne in mind that
many openly assert that it should be possible to
tell a man's name from the arms he bears. In
ancient times this was nearly always possible, and
such an idea is the very foundation of the whole of
Scottish Armory. Such an idea has also been
admitted to a large extent from the very earliest
times in English Armory, so that whilst there is
much to be said in favour of the contention which
I have referred to, and whilst I admit it has my
thorough sympathy, to establish such a position
now would be to upset the whole of the present
and past regulations.

A common enough complaint is that a modern
coat of arms is not artistically or heraldically as
' good ' a coat as an ancient one. I frankly admit
it. But by a warrant of a former Earl Marshal
certain distinctions must very properly be made
between any new grant and any existing arms
with which it might clash. A simple coat of arms
such as " Azure, a bend or," or " Gules, a lion ram-
pant argent," it is now impossible to obtain. Such
have all been long ago appropriated, and it is

Popular Fallacies 221

because they have been appropriated for so long
that a simple coat has become what it is, ' the sign
of an ancient house.' As a natural consequence,
that, of course, is one great reason why ' simple '
coats are so urgently desired. It is due to nothing
more or less than the dishonest snobbishness
which desires to pose before the world as possessing
more ancient ancestry than it does. But if the
perennial grumblers on this point would leave the
designing of arms entirely to the Officers of Arms,
instead of insisting, as the majority of the appli-
cants do, that the new arms are to be as like the
old improperly appropriated coat as the laws of
the College will admit (such insistance being
usually dictated by the desire to hide the fact
that the genuine arms are not those previously in
use), it would be found that new arms were very
much simpler than sometimes turns out to be
the case.

Another argument is made much of, and it is
this, that the Heralds will not admit descent from
an armigerous family, and a consequent right to their
arms, without the production of proof which it is
frequently now almost or quite impossible to supply.
There are unquestionably and unfortunately a
few such cases in which the legal proof, which it is
necessary to provide, places the family in a pitiable
position. But it must stand to reason that unless
a thing is incontestably proved, it cannot be

22 2 The Right to Bear Arms

accepted without prejudice to the rights of other
people. When all is said and done, the fact
remains, and must remain, that the hard posi-
tion in which these few families now find them-
selves is solely due to the negligence of their own
ancestors in failing to properly record their pedi-
grees when the necessary proofs were readily
accessible and when the facts still remained
matters of their own everyday knowledge. But
of the many cases in which this excuse is put
forward, there are but few indeed in which it has
the semblance of truth.

I don't know whether it is generally known that
even in the Law Courts a man's sworn testimony
as to the name and identity of his father and of his
grandfather are, failing evidence to the contrary,
accepted as legal evidence. It is much the same in
the College of Arms, and any man is allowed to
enter a large proportion of the facts concerning his
own pedigree from his grandfather, on his own
solemn aiifirmation, without the formality of the
production of actual documentary proofs. The
Heralds, of course, take the precaution of checking
the information so recorded, so that the risk of false-
hood being deliberately palmed off upon them is,
through their precautions, reduced to a minimum.
But at the same time the opportunity so afforded, if
properly taken advantage of, is such that the rights
of no family need lapse from any pecuniary reason.

Popular Fallacies 223

The cost of recording such a pedigree is trivial,
and if members of arms-bearing families would
only continue from time to time to enter up these
short pedigrees there would be no grievances,
and there would be none of the great expense of
collecting the evidences and proving a long
pedigree which occasionally causes a genuinely
armigerous family to allow their descent and
right to arms to be questioned or disputed.

Though it has been necessary to write as above,
I wish distinctly to say that in the course of my
articles in the Saturday Review I have as far as
possible, and as far as I have known, refrained
from holding up to criticism cases which hung
upon any such supposition.

But as a matter of fact the cases where this sort
of thing is usually said, and where an unproved
descent is asserted, nearly all turn out upon in-
vestigation to be simply unvarnished untruths.

A great many people when it comes to argu-
ment are fond of setting up a lot of ninepins to
knock down, which said ninepins are not being
played in that particular game. Now a very
specious ninepin of this character in the game of
argument is the false issue by which it is sought to
set forth that the Heralds officially say that the
use of arms is illegal unless the pedigree is fully
entered up to date in the College of Arms.
People really ought to credit the Heralds with a

224 ^^^ Right to Bear Arms

little common-sense. Arms are granted to certain
people and their descendants according to the
laws of arms for ever. Only attainder can take
away that right. It is the descent from the grantee
which the Heralds, when speaking officially, quite
rightly refuse to admit until it is proved. It is
hardly to be supposed they would record or certify
the right to the arms of the said grantee unless
the descent were proved and recorded. They
dare not admit such a right unless it is sufficiently
proved for it to be impossible, as far as human
judgment can go, for it to be subsequently shown to
be wrong. But no Herald was ever so foolish as to
say that the right did not exist without the pedigree
being recorded. It simply is that they will not
certify that it does exist unless the descent is
proved. There is a wide difference between the
two. And the specious misstatement so frequently
put forward which I refer to above I can only term
a piece of utter and wilful misrepresentation.

But it is too much to suppose that Officers of
Arms will accept a mere statement of descent as
proof of a right to arms. The Psalmist in his
haste remarked that all men are liars, and he
spoke with no experience of armorial bearings or
of the temptation they afford to depart from the
truth. It has been wittily remarked that the
Psalmist might equally have said it at his
leisure.

Popular Fallacies 225

It should be dearly understood that if the
descent from a grantee exists, it is not the right to
the arms which is denied. It is the fact of the
descent which is not admitted until it is proved.
The right to arms follows the proof of descent, and
is then admitted, even officially, as a matter of
course.

Personally I think those with a right to arms
are very short-sighted not to record their pedi-
grees generation by generation. The cost of
doing this is little more than a matter of shillings
each time, and the proof being always on record,
the descent can never thereafter be disputed or
questioned. If the registration is left beyond
three generations the cost of proving the descent
increases rapidly. For three or less generations
it is trivial.

One constantly recurring complaint against the
College of Arms and the Officers of Arms relates
to what the public are pleased to term the enor-
mous cost of recording a pedigree and thereby
establishing a right to arms.

The entire cost of the matter in the case of a
long pedigree is heavy, but I think the public are
under a great misapprehension. The official fees
for the examination of a pedigree before the
Chapter of the College of Arms, and for the
recording of it in the books of the College, are
by no means great. Where, then, does the

P

226 The Right to Bear Arms

cost come in ? In collecting the evidences by
virtue of which the pedigree is proved. There is
no reason at all why this should be done by any
Officer of Arms, except that he will probably do the
work better and more cheaply than an outsider.
The documents and records, official and unofficial,
to which he has access in the College are much
more numerous than is popularly supposed.

And wherein lies the hardship of a small ex-
pense in proving a pedigree ? One never hears of
a peer grumbling because it is a matter of personal
expense to establish and prove his really inalien-
able right to succeed his father. Therefore, why
should a gentleman grumble because it is a trivial
matter of expense to him to prove and establish
his succession to the lower, but still hereditary
rank. Entering a pedigree at the College from
one's father or grandfather costs nothing like the
amount it costs a peer to prove the same thing in
the House of Lords. But if the obvious expediency
of entering these short pedigrees generation by
generation is ignored, then naturally the cost of
collecting the evidences mounts up rapidly. It is
just the same in a Peerage case.

It seems to be a general idea that an utterly
unknown pedigree can be worked out for 200
years for a couple of pounds or so. To anybody
who has any such idea, I merely recommend that
they should honestly try to collect the evidences

Popular Fallacies 227

themselves. They will then have some idea of
the cost of getting the facts together, from Parish
Registers, from Somerset House, and the Record
Office. They will have some idea of the hours
and hours of searching which in the end only too
often prove to be void of result. But it has all
been genuine and honest work, and somebody
must pay for it. But if you have got the necessary
evidences in your own possession, or have collected
them yourself, the cost of recording them in the
College of Arms will be little indeed. But I
would ask amateur genealogists to bear in mind
that the necessary evidences must include, as a
minimum, all certificates of baptism, marriage and
burial, and officially certified copies of the wills
(where they exist) of at least every male through
whom descent is alleged. It is no good thinking
an old family Bible, two or three letters, and an
impression of a seal, will substantiate a pedigree
from the Visitations to the present day.

If arms were anything in the nature of a necessity,
the whole of the complaints I refer to regarding
the so-called ' rights ' of unrecorded arms, etc.,
might perhaps have weight as arguments for
increased facilities. Arms not being a necessity,
but a matter of privilege, emanating from the
Crown through its officers, and a privilege which,
within certain limits, the Crown is willing should
be obtained on certain terms, it must stand

228 The Right to Bear Arms

to reason that if people decline to comply with
and recognise those terms and conditions, they
cannot lawfully possess the privilege.

Another grievance is, and it is a common
enough assertion, that arms are now granted
to all and sundry who will pay the fees. That
is absolutely wrong. Of their own motion in
England neither Kings of Arms nor Heralds can
grant arms to anybody. The Earl Marshal's
separate warrant for each separate case is
absolutely indispensable. And it rests entirely
with him, and is absolutely and entirely a
matter in his own personal discretion, to say
whether an applicant is in a sufficient position in
life to have arms or not.

Applications have been refused in quite recent
times, and applications to assume (with the name)
the arms of another family are constantly refused.
That refusals are not rhore common is entirely due
to the fact that the Officers of Arms will not
pilt forward applications from those whom they
know would receive refusals. The control over
the College of the Earl Marshal, when he finds it
necessary to move, is very real and effective.

Of the new grants of arms which are issued^
probably — sooner or later — I get to hear of at least
a third. Those who know my identity will doubt-
less admit the statement I make in the foregoing
sentence to be probably correct. Those who do

Popular Fallacies 229

not know the personality of ' X ' must please
try to believe that it is so. I have never in my life
known a single case where arms have been granted
to a man who was not palpably living in that style
of life in which the use of arms is usual. Many
people have been knighted who would probably
have been previously refused arms. The class, and
the rank in life, of those people who nowadays
obtain grants of arms is vnich higher at the present
time than it was in the time of the Tudors, when
heraldry was about at its highest point in England.
All sorts of letters and complaints have appeared
in armorial newspaper correspondence. Some
are anonymous, but a little patient care and inves-
tigation will in nearly every case reveal the identity
of the writers. These letters are naturally either
for or against. Amongst the latter never once has
any one attempted to disprove the existence of the
authority I have in the foregoing pages put for-
ward. They are merely concerned in abusing
different Officers of Arms alive or dead, collectively
or individually. Nearly every writer whom I have
identified I know to be some one with a personal
grievance against the duly constituted authorities,
usually relating to his own arms or pedigree.
Unfortunately it is on the loudly expressed opinions
of these biassed individuals that the public so often
form their conclusions. Those without any personal
grievance seldom trouble to intrude in these news-

230 The Right to Bear Arms

paper fights. The consequence is that the pubh'c
never hears of the hard work, the careful and
minute examination of pedigrees, the safeguards
against mistakes, or of the endless labour and
research which, without fee or reward or any
publicity, different Officers of Arms undertake and
perform, and have done for ages past, in order
that they may record or make accessible facts and
evidence which will perhaps be wanted in the
future. Here is an example. There has been
a great hubbub recently about bogus baronets.
Needless to say these individuals have never
paid a sou to have their true pedigrees proved or
recorded. But of the English cases, I myself know
that the evidence is collected in the majority of
instances, and is ready when the occasion officially
needs its production. That is only one in-
stance of many I could quote. And I probably
do not even know myself of a tithe of the records
the Corporation possess. But when I know from
long experience that the Officers of Arms do the
whole of their official duties genuinely and fear-
lessly, and when I know the rules and safeguards
of the College prevent the contrary, I think it is
just as well that the general public should be
equally informed.

I have written this book solely for the love I bear
for the science and practice of Armory. I hold no
brief for the Heralds' College, nor for all, nor for

Popular Fallacies 231

any of its officers. I am fully aware that in my
writing I have not even the good wishes of some
of them. I am not concerned to glorify the
College. I have neither the wish nor the intention
to weave laurel wreaths for the brows of any of its
officers, past or present. But as the law now
stands, the fact must still remain, as it does, that
the Sovereign is the Fountain of Honour, and that
matters armorial have been delegated in England
in all due form to the control and supervision of
the Earl Marshal and the College of Arms, and
to the Kings, Heralds, and Pursuivants of Arms
forming the Corporation of the College.

INDEX

Abuse of College of Arms, 208,

Achievements, 26.

Acquitaine and Lancaster, Duke

of, 40.
Act of Parliament granting
Howard augmentation, 54, 55.
Acts of Scottish Parliament, 156,

157.
Action taken by Crown direct, 49.
Address of Royal Warrants, 86,

87, no.
Advertisement to find Arms, 12.
Agard, Frances, 185.
Agincourt, 44, 46, 47, 129, 139.
All Saints' Parish, 92, 97.
American Heraldry, 203.
Americans not eligible for grants

of Arms, 204.
Anne, Queen Consort, 93, 98.
Anwell Grove, 169.
Appointment of Officers of Arms,

99.
Armorial Law in Scotland — see

Chapter VH.; and in Ireland —

see Chapter VIII.
Armory, Burke's General, 37, 145.
Arms, the Criterion of Nobility,

30 ; date of, 27 ; an estate of

inheritance, 26, 27, 152; foreign
in England— see Chapter X. ;
granting of — see Chapter IV.;
heredity of, 16, 18 ; a matter
of privilege, 10, 11, 227 ; mean-
ing of, use of, 15, 17, 18; not
a necessity, 227 ; origin and
meaning of — see Chapter I., 27 ;
origin of spurious, 19, 20;
revenue from, 24 ; simplicity
of old, 220, 221 ; source of, 27 ;
taxation of, 24, 25 ; of Austen,
151, 152; Camborne alias
Paynter, 112, 113; Greene,
193-195; Howard, 54, 55;
London, 219 ; Moore of Bar-
caster, 67 ; Mylne, 170 ; Scot-
land, 54, 55 ; Speke, 56 ; and
see Officers and College of.

Aristocracy, prerogatives of, 13.

Arnot, 159.

Arundel, Surrey and Norfolk,
Thomas, Earl of, 69, 71, 73. 74,
78,79,81,82,83.

Ashill, 56.

Ashmole, Elias, 128.

Ashmolean Museum, 66.

Ashton, Justice, 65, 66.

Asquith, Right Hon. H. H., 108.

Assumption of Arms, 36.

234

Index

Athlone, 191.

Attainder, 32, 205.

Augmentations, 52, 53, 54, 55-61 ;
to Arms of Howard, grant of,
54, 55; to Arms of Ross of
Bladensburg, 54 ; to Arms of
Speke, 54, 56, 57, 58.

Aula Regis, 65.

Austen Arms, 151, 152 ; v.
Collins, 150, 153 ; Major, 151 ;
Mary Anne Eliza, 150.

Authority of Books denied, 210;
of the Crown, 41, 42, 46, 47, 61,
153, 200 ; of Crown, earliest
instance of, 38 ; of Crown and
College at present date proved
— see Chapter VI.; of Earl
Marshal, 68 ; of his Court, 68.

Award of King re Scrope v.
Grosvenor, 41.

B

2S, 12, 27, 29.

Bagenall, Nicholas, 185.

Baker «/. Spencer, 32, 33 ; Christo-
pher, 33 ; George, 33 ; J., 33 ;
Simon, 33 ; William, 32, 33.

Balfarge, 170.

Balfour, Sir James, 156.

Balfour, Paul — see Paul.

Ballynemony, 194.

Bally-Neury, 196.

Baltimore, 58.

Banchory, 165.

Barclay, Sir Andrew, 67.

Baronet, creation of a, 142 ;
Warrant regarding creation of,
142.

Bath, Order of, 108, 109.

Baton — see Rod.

Bayeux tapestry, 27. ^

Bear Inn, Reading, 128.
Beckwith, Hamond, 66.
Bedford, John, Duke of, 63.
Beechmount, 196.
Benolte, Thomas, 119.
Birth of Armory, 28.
Blackwood's Magazine, 164, 165.
Bladensberg, Battle of, 57, 58—

see Ross of Bladensburg.
Bland, Frances Diana, and F.C.,

and Lucurda, 196.
Blennerhassett, Elizabeth, John

and Louisa, 196.
Blount, Sir Richard, 67 ; Walter

Aston, 113-115.
Blueraantle, no.
Bogus Baronets, 230.
Book of Arms, 156.
Books, official authority of, denied,

210.
Books of the Visitations, 135-137.
Brandon, Chas., Duke of Suffolk,

34, 116, 199.
British Museum, 33, 88, 137.
Broughton-under-the-Blean, 32.
Burke, Sir John Bernard, Ulster

King of Arms, 37, 145, 195,

196, 210 ; Margaret, 190, 191 ;

Feagh, 191 ; Richard, 190.
Burke's General Armory, 37, 145.
Burnett, George, 165, 167.
Burntisland, 159.
Burtchaell, G. D., 182.
Butler, Bartholomew, 174, 175,

176, 177, 182.

Calabria, 57.

Index

235

Calendar of Documents relating to
Kilkenny^ 182.

Camborne, William, alias Paynter,
112, 113.

Camden, 30, 63, 64,

Carney, Ulster King of Arms, 189.

Carrigg, co. Roscommon, 190.

Cases, heraldic, in Earl Marshal's
Court, 66, 67 ; re definition of
gentility, 32, 33 ; use of a
Crest as a trademark, 148, 149 ;
Austen v. Collins, 150, 153;
Blount V. Moore, 67 ; Harding
V. St Loe, 66 ; Joicey-Cecil v.
Joicey-Cecil, 143, 144, 145, 146,
147, 152 ; Lord Malt by t/. Beck-
vvith, 66 ; Henry Parker, 67, 68 ;
Scrope V. Grosvenor, 39, 40, 41,
66, 89 ; Sitsilt v. Fakenham,
66 ; Standish v. Whitwell, 148,
149 ; Warburton v. Georges, 66,

Caste in England, 10.

Castletoune, co. Westmeath, 190.

Cecil, Arms of, 144, 146 ; and see
Joicey-Cecil.

Certificate of Fuller Arms, 195,
196 ; of Foreign Arms, 206.

Chaldeans, 27.

Chalmers, Margaret, 166.

Chamberlain — see Lord Chamber-
lain.

Champney, Richard, 90-99.

Chancellor, Lord, 104.

Chancery, High Court of, 143,
150, 152.

Change of Name, Royal Licence
for, 48,109, no.

Charges, origin of, 18.

Charles L, 199.

Charles H., 47, 48, 68, 77, 127,
161, 194, 199.

Charters of College of Arms, 88-
99 ; of Philip and Mary, 99 ;
of Richard HL, 88, 89.

Chaucer, 35.

Chester Herald, no; (May), 127.

Chitty, Mr Justice, 152.

Chivalry, Court of, 64, 65.

Cirencester, 127.

Clarenceux Kingof Arms, no, 117,
133; (Benolte), 119; (Blount),
113-115; (Cokayne), 105, 107;
(Cooke), 33, III, 112, 113;
(Harvey), 120; (Harrison), 57,
59, 60, 61 ; (Hawley), 120 ;
(Holme), 90-99 ; (Le Neve),
33.

Clonemacknosie, 191.

Clopton, William, 63.

Cokayne, Geo. E., 105, 107.

Coke, Sir Edward, 30.

Coker, 66.

Coldharbour, 89, 92, 97.

College of Arms, see Chapter HL,
and pages 23, 32, 37, 38, 42,
49, 52, 53, 56, 62, 67, 108, 109,
127, 133. 137, 138, 141, 142,
143, 145, 148, 149, 151, 152,
200, 201, 204, 207, 208, 214,
219, 222, 223, 226, 227, 230,
231.

Collins, 152.

QjoViSxi^ Peerage^ 66.

Colonies, Grants of Arms to, 49.

Comes, 29.

Commission of Queen Elizabeth
commanding a Visitation, 120-
125; for Visitations, 118-125.

Commissioners for Office of Earl
Marshal, 128, 188.

' Committee of Articles,' 157.

Common Law recognition of

236

Index

Right in the Bearing of Arms,
147.

Commons. See House of.

Comj'ns' Digest, 152.

Confirmation of Arms, 192-198,
and see Visitations ; Fees, 197 ;
Arms to Baker, 33 ; Beckwith,
66 ; Fuller, 195, 196 ; Greene,
193-195.

Consent of Earl Marshal necessary
to granting of Arms, 106, 228.

Constable, 39, 40, 65, 66, 69, 70,
78, 79, and see High Con-
stable.

Cooke, Robert, 33, iii, 112, 113.

Coronets of Peers, 12.

Corunna, 57.

Cost of Recording Pedigrees, 223,
225, 226, 229.

Court of Chivalry, 63, 152, and
see Earl Marshal's Court.

Courtesy of Society, 31.

Cranbrook, 168.

Crests, use of and right to, 26 ;
grant of, to Earl of Nottingham,
42, 43.

Criterion of Nobility, Arms the,
30.

Cromwell, 157, 159.

Crosse, Jonathan, 134.

Crown, the, 18, 29, 32, 35, 36, 38,
140, 141, 142, 155, 161, 172,
182, 197, 200, 209, 213, 217,
227 ; the Fountain of Honour,
48, 199 ; Law Officers of, 108,
109 ; Rights and Prerogatives
of — see Chapter I.

Crowthorne and Minety, 126.

Crusades, 28 ; First, 27.

Curia Militaris, 65.

Curious Discourses (Hearne), 65.

Cusacke, Thomas, 185.
Cuttlehill, 166.

Dallaway, 64-67.

Date of Incorporation of College
of Arms, 88, 89 ; of origin of
Arms, 27; of Visitations, 1 19.

Definition of Gentlemen, 31, 32 ;
of Nobility, 31.

Degradation from Knighthood, 67.

Deincourt, Edmund, 38, 39 ; Isa-
bella, 39.

Delegation of authority by
Crown, 62.

Deputy of Marshal, 40.

Deputy Earl Marshal, 59, 106.

Deputies of Kings of Arms, 125.

Derriquin Castle, 196.

Derrymaclaghnye, 190.

Derwentwater, Earl of, 141.

Descent of Arms, 116, 197, 198.

Destruction of Arms at Visita-
tions, 119.

Dethicke, Sir Gilbert, ill, 112,
113-

Devolution of Arms, 116, 197, 198.

Differences between New and Old
Arms, 217, 219.

Dillon, R., 185.

Direct action of Crown, 49.

Disclaimers, 133, 134, 135, 136 ;
form of, 1 34.

Dland, Robert, 63.

Dorset, History of,6(>.

Dorset, Sheriff of, 45.

Downeoman, 191.

Drysdale, Thomas, 156.

Dublin, 176, 179, 186.

DubHn, Adam, Archbishop of, 185.

Index

237

Dugdale, William, 66, 134.
Duties of High Constable, 62

of Officers of Arms, 216.
Dux, 29.

'Eag^le,' the, 159.
Eagle Coal & Iron Co., 148, 149.
Earl Marshal — see Chapter II.
Earl Marshal, 34, 38, 57, 61, 62,

63, 99, 106, no, 116, 128, 132,

134, 141, 153, 173, 183, 199,

201, 209, 228, 231.
Earl Marshal's Court of England,

64.
Earl Marshal's Court, 32, 62, 65,

68, 69, 70, 78, 79, 199 ; Staff,

61 ; and see Rod and Staff.
Earliest instance of authority of

Crown, 38,
Edmondson, 67, i 133,
Edward II., 38.
Edward III., loi, 103.
Edward IV., 104.
'Elizabeth,' the, 159.
Elizabeth, 99, 120, 183, 199.
Essay on Man, 35.
Estate of Inheritance, Arms an,

36, 37. 152.
Etiquette of College of Arms, 209.
Eton College, 50, 51.
Exchequer, 65, 215.

Fallacies as to Arms, 24, 25, 26,

52.
Falkland, Viscount, 187.

Fees on ancient grants of Arms,
34, 116 ; on a Confirmation of
Arms, 197 ; for funeral certifi-
cates, 190 ; of Lyon King of
Arms, 158, 162, 163, 164 ; upon
Patents of Arms, 198, 213, 217 ;
excused to those unable to pay,
135; of Honour of Scottish
Heralds, 215.
Fellows of the Society of Anti-
quaries, 15.
Feudal Law, 29, 30.
Feversham, 33.
Fines, 67, 132, 163.
Fitzwilliam, Wra., 185.
Flodden Field, 54, 55.
Flower William, iii, 112, 113,

120-125.
Faidera (Rymer), 90, 173.
Fonthill, 166.

Forbes Arms and Patent of
Matriculation, 168, 169 ; Eliza-
beth, Lady, 168 ; Frances Doro-
thea, 168 ; Frederick Murray,
168 ; Honoria, 168 ; James
Ochonchar, Lord, 168 ; Norman
Hay, 168, 169; Robert, 168;
Wm., Lord, 168.
Foreign Arms— see Chapter X.
Foreign grants of Arms, 31.
Forman, Sir Robert, 156.
France, 205.

Fountain of Honour, 48, 231.
Funeral Certificates, 182, 183, 185,
189, 190 ; fees on, 190 ; of
Bryan MacDermott, 190, igr ;
of Hugh Magaghegan, igo.
Fuller Arms and Patent of Con-
firmation, 195, 196 ; James
Franklin, Thomas Harnett,
Frances Diana, Edward, Eliza-

238

Index

beth Thomas, Ann, William,
Jane.

Garter King of Arms, lio; (De-

thicke), III, 112, 113 ; (Heard),

57, 59, 60, 61 ; (Walker), 67 ;

(Woods), 113- 115; (Writhe),

90-102.
Genealogical Magazine^ 23.
Genealogist, 33.
Genealogist to Order of the Bath,

108, 109.
General Armory, Burke's, 37, 145.
Gentility, a hereditary rank, 18,

35; technical rank of, 11, 30,

35.
Gentleman, definition of word,

31, 34; derivation of word, 34 ;

wrong use of word, 28 ; 35 ;

English, 18; 'by birth,' 14,

31 ; of ' Coat Armour,' 31.
Gentry, privileges of, 29.
George I., 140.
George III., 57, 60, 108.
George IV., 18, 109.
Georges, 66.
Germany, 36, 204, 206.
Glasgow Cathedral, 164.
Glashnacree, 196.
Gloucester King of Arms (Champ-

ney), 90-99.
Goddard, Louisa, 196.
Granting of Arms — see Chapter

IV.
Grants of Arms to Colonies, 49 ;

by Sovereign, 49 ; to Baker, 33 ;

to Roger and Thomas Keys, 34,

50, 51, 52; Scottish, 165-167;

to William F ,113-

115; of Crest to Earl of
Nottingham, 42, 43 ; ofHo'ward
Augmentation, 54, 55 ; of Ross
of Bladensburg Augmentation,
57-61 ; of Title of Earl
Marshal, 64 ; of Office of Earl
Marshal to Dukes of Norfolk,
68-86 ; of name of ' Bladens-
burg,' 57-6r ; of Speke Aug-
mentation, 56, 57, 58.

Grantees of Arms, social status
of, 228, 229.

Grazebrook, George, F.S.A., 64,
164.

Greeks, 27.

Greene Arms and Patent of Con-
firmation, 193-195 ; John Joseph,
John Godfrey, 193-195.

Greenmount, 193.

Greenville, 193.

Gretna Green, 21.

Grey, Sir Ralph, 67.

Grosvenor, Sir Robert, 39, 40, 41,
66, 89.

Gwynior, 112.

H

Habeas Corpus, writ of, 67.
Hall-mark of gentility, 23.
Hammersmith, 170.
Harding v. St Loe, 66.
Hardy, Gathorne, 57.
Harnutt, Jane and William, 196.
Harper's Magazine, 10.
Harrison, George, 57, 61.
Harvey, William, 120,
Hawley, Thomas, 120.
Heard, Sir Isaac, 57, 59, 60, 61.
Heath, Richard, 134.
Hearne, 65.

Index

239

Heiresses, 116.

Hemsted Park, 168.

Henry V., 38, 43, 44, 45, 199.

Henry VI, 63.

Henry VHI, 53, 119.

Herald and Genealogist^ 40, 66,

147.
Heraldic Exhibition, 156.
Heraldry of Worcestershire, 164.
Heralds' College — see College of

Arms.
Herbert, Lucurda, 196.
Heredity of Arms, 16, 18, 116,

I97i 198 ; of gentility, 32.
Herschel, Farrer, Lord, G.C.B.,

104.
High Constable, 62, 63.
High Marshal — see Earl Marshal.
High Sheriffs, 15, and see Sheriffs.
History of the College of Arms

(Noble), 90.
History of Dorset (Coker), 66.
History of Edinburgh, 159.
Hodges, Frances Dorothea, 16S.
Holme, Thomas, 90-99.
Hol}rrood House, 156.
Home Office, 142, 143.
Hoo, Lord, 39.
House of Commons, 215; of

Lords, 212, 226.
Howard, Henry, Lord, 68-86 ;

Lord William, 75, 84, 85 ;

Augmentation, Grant of, 54, 55 ;

Molyneux, Henry Thomas, 59.
Hunter, Elizabeth, 168 ; William,

168.

Ince Arms and Family, 145.
Incomes of Officers of Arms, 216.

Incorporation of the College of

Arms, 88.
Inheritance of Arms, 116, 197,

198 ; of Quarterings, 1 16.
Inland Revenue, 25.
' Insignia Gentilitia,' 30.
Interference of Lyon King of

Arms with bad Arms, 164,

200.
Ireland, 38 ; armorial law in —

see Chapter VIII. ; King of

Arms, 172.
Irish Confirmations of Arms, 193-

197; Grant of Arms, 179; Re-
cords, absence of, 192.
Islay Herald (Drysdale), 156.
Italy, 205.

James II., 139.

Joice — see Joicey.

Joicey, Arms and Name of, 144,
145, 146, 147.

Joicey, Col. John, 143, 144.

Joicey-Cecil, Lord John Paken-
ham, 143, 144, 146 ; v. Joicey-
Cecil, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147,
152.

Jordans, 56.

Joyce — see Joicey.

Joys — see Joicey.

Jurisdiction of Earl Marshal, 64.

Keeper of Wardrobe, 176, 179.
Kekewich, Mr Justice, 143, 146.
Kent, Thomas, Earl of, 64.
Keys, Roger and Thomas, 34,
50,51,52.

240

Index

Kilkenny Moderator, 182.

King, Gregory, 127, 128.

Kings of Arms, 49, ill, 119, 125 ;
and see by Name and Title, and
refer to Officers of Arms and
College of Arms.

King's Bench, 65, 67, 68.

King's College, 166.

King's Court, 65.

Kingsdowne, 33.

Knighthood, degradation from,

67.
Knights, Jubilee, 15.
Knoll, James, 134.

Labels in Arms, 42.

Lancaster Herald, 1 10; (Thynne),

65.

Lawrence, Sir James, 30.

Laws of Arms, 210.

Leader, Mary, 196.

Le Neve, 33.

Le Scrope — see Scrope.

Letter from King to Lord Falk-
land, 187-189.

Letters Patent — see Grants of
Arms, and Patents of Arms ; of
Officers of Arms, 100 ; appoint-
ing W. H. Weldon to be Norroy
King of Arms, 100, 104-108 ;
appointing John Wrythe to be
Garter King of Arms, 100-104.

Liber Insignorium, 156.

Licence of Crown, 48.

Lieutenant of Court of Chivalry,
63.

Limitations of a Confirmation,
193 ; of Grants of Arms, 115 ;
of Patents, 213.

Lindsay, Sir David, 15^, 156,
159-

Literature^ 147.

London, 33; Arms of, 219-
Gazette, 109 ; Port of, loi, 103.

Lord Chamberlain, 107 ; Chan-
cellor, 50, 104; Deputy, 184;
Marshal — see Earl Marshal.

Lords — see House of.

Lyon Clerk, 160, 162, 170 ;
(Mitchell), 169, 171.

Lyon King of Arms, 38, 156, 157,
158, 161, 162, 163, 165, 167,
168, 169, 200; (Balfour), 156;
(Burnett), 164, 165, 167; (For-
man), 156 ; (Lindsay), 155,.
156 ; (Paul), 155, 211,

Lyon Office, 156, 159, 160; fees
in, 214, 215.

Lyon Register, 160, 162, 163, 164,
167-171.

M

MacDermott, Funeral Certificate^
190, 191 ; Bryan, Rory, Teigh,
Rory Oge, Rory Keogh, Mar-
garet, 190 ; Bryan, Tirlagh,,
Terence, Margaret, Connor,
Charles, 191 ; Eleanor, Bryan,
Teigh, Honora Mary, Margaret,
Uny.

Mackenzie, Sir George, 159.

Magaghegan, Funeral Certificate,
190 ; Hugh Buye, Eleanor,
Arte, James, Thomas, Richard,
Rose, Neyle, Conly, Connelly
Mary, Margery, Eleanor, Anne,
and Elizabeth, 190.

Maida, Plains of, 57.

Maltby, Hugh, Lord v. Beckwith,,
66.

Index

241

Maltravers, Henry, Lord, 71, 81.

Manners, 18,

Manners, Family and Motto, 18.

Marshal, 39— see Earl Marshal ;
High (of Ireland), 184.

Marshall, Honoria, 168 ; Rev.
William Knox, 168.

Marshalsea, 65, 67.

Mary, 156.

Matriculation of Arms, 157, 160,
162, 163, 167.

May, Thomas, 127.

Meaning of Arms — see Chapter I.

Milne, John, 170.

Mitchell, Sir Francis, 67.

Mitchell, J. W., 169, 171.

Mistakes in Printed Books of
Visitations, 137.

Molyneux, Daniel, 186, 187— see
Howard-Molyneux.
-or of Barfield, 67 ; Sir Francis,
67.

Mooretown Keating, 194.

More, John, 90-99.

Morrey, Robert, 134.

Motto of Manners, Family, 18.

Mount Leader, 196.

Mowbray, Thomas — see Notting-
ham, Earl of; see Norfolk,
John, Duke of.

Moyle, Justice, 65, 66,

Mylne Arms and Patent of Ma-
triculation, 169, 170, 171 ;
Hannah, 170; Robert, 170 ;
Robert William, 170 ; Wm.
John Home, 169, 170.

N

Name and Arms, Clauses in Wills,
143, 144. HS. 146, 147,150-153-

Name, Royal Licences for Change

of, 48, 109, no.
Name, Scottish, 163.
Narbon, Nicholas, 182, 184, 185,

186.
Naworth, 75, 84.
Necessity of Arms denied, 24.
Needham, Justice, 6$.
Newcastle, Duke of, 48.
Newspaper correspondence, 208,

211, 229, 230.
Nicolas, Sir N. Harris, 66.
Nile, source of, 56.
Noble, 90.

Noble, definition of word, 31.
Nobleman, 28.

Nobility of British Gentry, 30.
Nobility, Arms, the criterion of,

30 ; definition of, 31 ; Patents

of, 213.
Nomination of Officers of Arms,

99-
Norfolk, Earl of — see Arundel ;

Dukes of, 54, 61, 68, 86, 87,

no; Bernard Edward, Duke

of, 59 ; Charles, Duke of, 57 ;

Henry, Duke of, 87, no, 113-

115 ; John, Duke of, 63, 72,

81 ; Thomas, Duke of, 67, 71,

72, 75, 81, 84, 99, 183.
Norroy King of Arms, no;

(Cokayne), 105; (Dugdale), 134 ;

(Flower), in, 112, 113, 120-125;

(More), 90-99; (Weldon), 100,

104-108 ; (Wrythe), 100, 102.
Northumberland, Jocelin, Earl of,

48.
Norwich, Earldom, grant of, 69, 78.
Nottingham, Charles, Earl of,

76, 85 ; Thomas, Earl of, 42,

43, 64.

Q

242

Index

O'Brennan, 196.

Officers of Arms— see Chapter 1 1 1 . ;
and see College of Arms and
Kings of Arms, and see Officers
by names and titles; also
pages 99, 118, 126, 130, 131,
141, 145, 146, 153, 156, 157,
183, 199, 209, 210, 221, 223,
228, 229, 230, 231 ; nomina-
tion of, 87 ; salaries, incomes,
and official duties, 216.

Ogle, Henry, Earl of, 48.

Omissions at Visitations, 211.

O'Molly, Eleanor and William,
191.

Opinion of Law Officers upon
Protest of Officers of Arms,
108, 109.

Order of Charles Brandon, Duke
of Suffolk, as to Fees on Grants,
116 ; of Earl Marshal, 34 ; for
Officers of Arms re Funerals,
183.

Ordinances for College of Arms,
99.

'Ordinary of Scottish Arms,' 155.

Origin of Arms — see Chapter I.
and p. 27 ; of charges, 18 ; of
spurious Arms, 19, 20, 37.

O'Roirk, Margaret and Conn,
191.

Orthes, 58.

Ownership of Arms, 26.

Papal grants, 205.
Parker, Henry, 67, 68.
Parliament, 42.

Patent of Arms to William Cam-
borne alias Paynter, 111-113;
Granting Arms (Irish), 179,
180, 181 ; of confirmation of
Fuller Arms, 195, 196 ; of con-
firmation of Greene Arms, 193-
195 ; of matriculation, 167-
169 ; of matriculation of Mylne
Arms, 169; of Peerage, 212, .(|
217 ; of first Ulster King of
Arms, 173-179; of Arms, 30,
31, 32, 212, 217; of Peerage,
212, 217.

Paul, Sir J. Balfour, 155-

Paynter, William, alias Camborne,
112, 113.

Pedigrees, recording of, 153, 221-
227 ; entered at Visitations,
138.

Peerage cases, 212,

Pelican, Miss and Rev. Wm., 196.

Peloquin, 196.

Peninsula, the, 57.

Percy, Elizabeth, Lady, 48 ; Sur-
name and Arms of, 48.

Philip and Mary, 120, 199,

Phillpot, 64.

Pincell, Ann, John, Mary, 196.

Plunkett, Sir Christopher, 191 ;
John, 185 ; Mary and Patrick,
191.

Pope, Alexander, 35.

Pope, The, 204, 205.

Popular fallacies — see Chapter
XL

Porny, 13.

Port of London, loi, 103.

PortculHs, no.

Portugal, King of, 204.

Powers given to Officers of Arms
at Visitations, 119, 132.

Ijtdex

243

Practice at Visitations — see Visi-
tations.

Precedence of Baronets, 143.

Precedents (Vincent), 67.

Prerogatives of aristocracy, 13 ;
of the Sovereign — see Chapter
I., and pages 36, 48, 61, 199; of
the Sovereign to confer Arms,
36.

Preston, Thomas, 191.

Prince Regent, H.R.H., 57.

Prisott, Justice, 65, 66.

Privilege, Armory, a matter of,
10, II, 227.

Privy Council, 156, 157, 159, 184.

Privy Seal, 49.

Procedure for registration of
Foreign Arms, 206.

Proof of Arms at Visitations — see
Visitations ; of authority at
present date of Crown and
College — see Chapter VI. ; of
right to Arms, 153.

Protection of Trademarks and
Crests, 150.

Protest of Officers of Arms against
Genealogist of the Bath, 108.

'Purchase' of Arms and Peer-
ages, 217,

Purpose of Saturday Review
Articles, 200.

Pyrenees, 58.

Q

Quarterings, 116.
Queen's Counsel, 15.
Quotation marks, explanation of
use herein, 28.

Rank, Gentility hereditary, 18.

Ralph, Julian, 10.

Ravenscourt Park, 170.

Reading, 128.

Rebellion of Lord Derwentwater,
141.

Recent Grant of Arms, 113-I15.

Record Office, 23, 227.

Recording of pedigrees, 153, 221-
227.

Reformation, 205.

Refusals of Arms, 228.

Remames^ Camden's, 64.

Registration of Foreign Arms,
205, 206.

Revenue from Taxation of Arms,
24.

Richard II., 42, 43, 64, 89, 98,
99, 172.

Richard III., 88, 90.

Richmond, Earl of, 63 ; Herald,
no; (Narbon), 182.

Rights of the Sovereign — see
Chapter I.

Rod of Earl Marshal, 61, 72, 73,
74,75,76, 81,83,84,85,87.

Ross of Bladen sburg Augmenta-
tion, 54 ; Elizabeth Catherine,
59, 60 ; Major-General Robert,
57, 60 ; of Ross Trevor, Arms
of, 58, 60.

Rothschild, Baron, 206 ; Sup-
porters, 206.

Rouge Croix, no, 133.

Rouge Dragon, no; (King), 127,
128.

Royal Arms of England, 49, 219 ;
Commissions for Visitations,
11S-125; Family, Labels of,

244

Index

k

42 ; Licences, 49, 204, 206 ;
Clauses in, 48, 109, no; for
Austen, 151, 152 ; to take
Name and Arms of Percy,
48 ; for name of Joicey, 144,
145, 146, 147 ; Warrants, 52 ;
method of address, 86, 87, no ;
of George III., reciting author-
ity of Officer of Arms, 108,
109 ; of George IV. re Baronets,
142.

Russia, 36.

Rymer, 90, 173.

Sackville, 196.

St George, Richard, 189.

St Loe, 66.

Salaries of Officers of Arms, 216 ;
of Norroy King, 107.

Sarum, New, 45, 46.

Saturday Review^ 23, 200, 223.

Scotland, 38 ; Armorial Law in —
see Chapter VII. ; Arms of, 54,
55 ; James, King of, 55.

Scott, George and Hannah, 170.

Scottish Grant of Arms, 165, 167 ;
ordinary of Arms, 21 1 ; Parlia-
ment— see Acts of, 157-164 ;
signatures, 163.

Scrope V. Grosvenor, 39, 40, 41,
66, 89 ; Sir Richard le, 40, 41.

Shakespeare, 47.

Sheriffs — see High Sheriffs and
page 125 ; of Wilts, Sussex,
and Dorset, 45.

Shrewsbury Peerage Case, 119.

Sidney, H., 184.

Signatures in Scotland, 163.

Sneers as to payment of fees, 212,
217 ; at Armory, 23, 24.

' Snobbery,' 17, 19, 35, 221. ,3

Social status of Grantees of Arms,
228, 229.

' Society,' 16, 17, 28, 29, 31.

Somerset Herald, no.

Somerset House, 25, 227.

Source of spurious Arms, 19, 20.

Sovereign, 29, 38, 40, 53, 213,
231 ; acts of Foreign Sove-
reigns, 204; rights and pre-
rogatives of — see Chapter I.

Spain, 205.

Speke, augmentation, 54, 56, 57,
58 ; Capt. John Hanning, 56 ;
William, 56.

Spencer, Adam, 32, 33.

Spurious Arms, origin of, 19, 20.

Standish v. Whitwell, 148, 149.

Statutes to check encroachments
of Earl Marshal's Court, 62 ; for
College of Arms, 99 ; of Duke
of Suffolk re Arms, 199 ; as to
regulations in Earl Marshal's
Court, 67.

Status of Foreign Arms in Eng-
land— see Chapter X. ; of
Grantees of Arms, 228, 229.

Staverton, Henry, 128.

Stockton-on-Tees, I48.

Streatham, 165.

Suffolk, Chas. Brandon, Duke of,
34, 116, 199; Thomas, Earl of,
74,75,83,84. I

Summoning to appear at Visita- "
tions, 126, 127, 128, 132, 133,
138.

Summons to a Gentleman to
attend a Visitation, 127 ; to
Bailiff to notify Visitations, 126-
128.

Surrey, Earl of — see Arundel.

Index

245

Sussex, Sheriff of, 45.
Swan Inn, Cirencester, 127.

Taxation of Arms, 24, 25, 198.
Tenterden, 33.
Thornaby Iron Works, 148.
Thornton Title and Augmentation,

204.
Thynne, Francis, 65.
Times, 1 52.
Totemism, 203.
Trademarks and Crests^ 147,
Treasury, the, 198, 215.
Treatise on Heraldry^ 56.
Trent, 57.

Trimleston, R., 185.
Trinity College, Dublin, 186.
Tudor Period, 229.
Tunbridge Wells, 168.
Tyrell, EJenor and Walter, 190.

U

Ulster King of Arras, 38, 173, 192,
193, 197, 201 ; (Carney), 189 ;
(Burke), 37, 145, 195, 196,
210; (Butler), 174, 175, 176,
177, 182 ; (Narbon), 182, 184,
185, 186; (Molyneux), 186, 187;
(Preston), 191 ; (St George),
189; (Ussher), 186; (Vicars),
179-181, 182, 193-195-

United States of America, 58, 59.

Usage of Arms, voluntary, 24 ;
right by, see Visitations ; of
Crests, 26.

Use of Arms, meaning of, 15, 17,

Ussher, Christopher, 186 ; Arch-
bishop, 186.

Vicars, Sir Arthur E., 1 79-1 81,
182, 193-195-

Victoria, 54, 56, 104, I15, 14I,
195, 196.

Vincent, 67.

Visitations — see Chapter V., and
pages I18-141, 153, 154, 156,
160, 184, 185, 186, 189, 197,
199, 211, 227; books, 135, 136,
317 ; printed copies of, 137.

Vittoria, 58.

Voluntary, use of Arms is, 24.

W

Wales, 38 ; Edward, Prince of,
93, 98-

Walker, Sir Edward, 67; ?'. Parker,
67.

Warburton v. Georges, 66.

Wardrobe, Keeper of, 107, 108.

Warrant of Charles II., 47, 48;
of Crown re Grants, 49 ; of
George III., 108 ; of George
IV., 109 ; for Letters Patent
appointing W. H. Weldon to
be Norroy King of Arms, 104-
108 ; for Visitations, 199.

Washington, capture of, 58.

Weldon, William Henry, 100, 104-
108.

West Bromwich, 148.

Weston, Robert, 185.

Weston-super-Mare, 169.

246

Index

Westminster, 43, 55, 77, 86, 94,

99, 102, 104; Royal Palace of,

42.
Whitwell & Co., 148, 149 ; Crest,

149.
William III., 139.
Wills — Names and Arms clauses

in, 150, 153.
Wilts, Sheriff of, 45.
Winchester College, 35.
Windsor, 50, 51; Herald, no;

(Ashmole), 128; (Weldon), 105.
Wokingham, 128.
Wolseley, Lord, 213,214.
Wood, Sir Wm. Page, 148, 149.
Woods, Sir Albert W., K.C.B.,

113-115-

Woodward & Burnett, 56.

'Workman M.S.,' 156.

Writ out of Court of Chivalry, 63 ;

of Henry V., 38, 43-46.
Writhe, John, 90-102.
Wrythe — see Writhe.
Wykeham, William of, 35.

'X,' 28, 229.

York Herald, no; (Butler), 174,
177.

Elliot Stock, 62 Paternoster Ro-i:, London, E.C.

3338